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STATEMENT 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE DISMISSAL 



SURGEON-CxENERAL 



a./ & 



WILLIAM A. HAMMOND 



F r? O M THE ARMY: 



REVIEW OF THE EVIDENCE ADDUCED BEFORE 
THE COURT. 



Ml 



A STATEMENT 



CAUSES WHICH LED TO THE DISMISSAL 



SURGEON-GENERAL WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. 



On the 25th of April, 1862, I was commissioned by the Pres- 
ident Surgeon-General of the Army of the United States. The 
position was not of my seeking, but was given through the efforts 
of friends who had known me, either personally or by reputation, 
for many years, and who had confidence in my honor and in my 
ability to discharge the responsible duties belonging to the office, 
I had served in the army nearly eleven years without a stigma ever 
having been placed upon my character; had labored, not altogether 
without success, to advance the interests of science; had occupied 
the Chair of Anatomy and Physiology in the University of Mary- 
land ; and, on the breaking out of the rebellion, had resigned my 
professorship and returned to the army as an assistant surgeon, 
though with the loss of all the rank acquired by my previous 
service. 

Chief among those who had exerted themselves for my appoint- 
ment were Major-General McClellan and members of the United 
States Sanitary Commission. The former first mentioned my name 
for the position ; it was owing to the persistent efibrts of the latter 
that the bill reorganizing the Medical Department became a law, 
and it was mainly due to their personal exertions that the Pres- 
ident determined to place me at the head of the corps. At the 
time I was serving in the Department of Western Virginia, as 
Medical Inspector of Camps and Hospitals; my rank was that of 
first lieutenant, and there were many of that grade who were my 
seniors — I was scarcely thirty-four years old. 

As was to have been expected, my appointment caused a great 
deal of ill feeling. The older members of the corps — who had 
served, many of them, more years than I had lived — felt aggrieved. 
The feeling was a perfectly natural one, and I entertained no 
animosity against those who experienced it. I think I may safely 
say that not ten of those who ranked me, regarded my selection 

1 (3) 



■with favor; and one at least, who at the time was acting Surgeon- 
General, had taken every means in his power to defeat my nomi- 
nation and confirmation. It will be easily seen, then, that I had 
a difficult undertaking before me, even with everything in my 
favor. With the persistent enmity of the Secretary of War, to 
whom I had a right to look for official support and countenance, 
the task was almost insurmountable. There was a large depart- 
ment to reorganize, the angry feelings of those who deemed them- 
selves outraged were to be soothed, and there were to be selected, 
for important positions, officers who were capable of carrying out 
the views of improvement which I desired to put in practice. 

In a great measure I was successful. I say this without hesi- 
tation. It is not only my own opinion, but it is the opinion of 
those both in this country and in Europe who are competent to 
judge. Many of the older members of the corps became my 
friends. They were men whom I had loved and respected for 
years, with whom I had served, and who knew me too well to be- 
lieve that I would wantonly commit any act calculated to wound 
their feelings. I regarded it as my bounden duty to treat them 
with the consideration which their faithful services demanded. So 
far did my efforts extend, that I went personally to the Secretary 
of War with the one who had most actively opposed my appoint- 
ment, and, at his solicitation, requested his appointment as Assist- 
ant Surgeon- General. The Secretary of War remarked to me at 
the time, that it was the weakest act I had done in my life, and 
that the officer in question would never be my friend. Mr. Stan- 
ton had promised him the appointment, provided it met my ap- 
proval. He counted on my being as vindictive as he would have 
been in my position. He never forgave me for the disappoint- 
ment I caused him. The language he made use of, however, 
would have been worthy of a soothsayer, for it has been abund- 
antly verified. 

When I assumed my duties, the affairs of the Department were 
far in arrears. Several of the books were many months behind- 
hand, and no adequate preparation had been made to meet the 
tremendous emergency which was close upon us. It must not be 
supposed that I attribute these shortcomings to my predecessor. I 
do not know of my own knowledge how far he was directly respon- 
sible for them. I do know, however, that he had been treated in 
the most unjustifiable manner by Mr. Stanton, and I give him 
credit for honesty of purpose and the honorable feelings of a 
gentleman, which his superior in office has never yet seemed 
capable of appreciating in any one placed under him. 

The routine and details of the bureau were the same that had 
been in operation when the army numbered but fifteen thousand 
men. It was now over seven hundred thousand. There were 
then, I think, but eight clerks to do the whole business of the 



office. In less than two months, there were over sixty, and 
this number was subsequently increased. Not only was it neces- 
sary to extend the machinery of the office, but entirely new sub- 
bureaus had to be opened. 

The scientific results of the war had been altogether neglected. 
I organized an army medical museum; instituted manufacturing 
laboratories in New York and Philadelphia; called for fuller and 
more explicit reports than had previously been demanded of 
medical officers; placed the work of preparing a medical and sur- 
gical history of the rebellion in competent hands; and excited a 
spirit of professional emulation which has been productive of the 
best results. 

The hospital system had scarcely received any attention. A 
great part of my time, during the first three or four months of 
my administration, was spent in planning and locating hospitals, 
and visiting the battle-fields. With the assistance of those mem- 
bers of the corps who understood my objects and entered into 
my views, hospitals for over twenty thousand sick and wounded 
were in that period established in Washington alone ; and in one 
instance beds for five thousand were set up in five days. In the 
spring and summer of 1862, accommodations were provided for 
over seventy thousand sick and wounded soldiers. This was no 
trifling task, for not only did the material and the officers and 
attendants have to be obtained, but in many cases the hospitals 
had to be erected. These hospitals were mostly built according 
to my designs, after a thorough study of the subject, and were 
constructed with a view to every necessary condition of hygiene 
and comfort. They have received the unqualified approbation of 
all intelligent observers as the best the world has ever seen; and 
though the immediate labor of their construction was done by 
the Quartermaster's Department, the Medical Department was 
charged with the duty of seeing that they were in all respects 
suitable for the purpose. 

Thousands upon thousands of sick and wounded were accumu- 
lating on my hands, but I was prepared for them. I had strained 
every nerve, had given my almost undivided attention to the sub- 
ject of looking after their welfare, and they were provided for as 
no disabled soldiers ever were provided for before. Even my 
nights, during all this period, were occupied in writing a work 
specially designed to enlighten the medical officers in regard to 
every point necessary to make the condition of those committed 
to their charge as tolerable as possible. 

While, as in duty bound, I endeavored to accomplish the pur- 
pose of insuring the comfort of those who suffered for their coun- 
try, with a due regard to economy, I am perfectly free to confess 
that the saving of money was altogether a secondary object. My 
first duty was to save life. I did not know how to value that of 



a sick or wounded soldier by any pecuniary standard; and if I 
had retained the office of Surgeon-General till my dying day, I 
should never have acquired that knowledge. My acts, therefore, 
excited comment. I was accused by the wicked and the ignorant 
of useless extravagance; supplies of the variety of those issued 
had never been furnished before, and they were of a standard of 
excellence which was marvelous, considering the haste with which 
they were necessarily put up. 

The disbursements of the Medical Department before the war 
were but about $100,000 a year; my expenditures were at the 
rate of $1,000,000 a month. They are no less nosv, under a suc- 
cessor who, among other reasons, wa§ appointed to enforce a rigid 
economy, but one of the first of whose acts was to send in an 
annual estimate $2,000,000 greater than any I had ever made. 

The outlay of so large a sum of money brought around me a 
number of persons, who were importunate for what they called 
a share of the public patronage. I have many letters, from mem- 
bers of Congress, and others who are now loudest in their denun- 
ciations of me, begging me to give orders to their friends. I 
select only two, which, as they are types of the others, will be 
sufficient to show that no idea of my not possessing the right to 
regulate the purveying business was entertained. 

Five days after my appointment, and only two after I took 
charge of the office, I received the following: — 

Washington, April 30th, 1862. 
Dear Sir : — 

Inclosed please find note from , of , to which your attention 

is requested. Please give it as favorable consideration as possible. 
• Truly yours, 

(Signed) H. WILSON. 

This letter inclosed a note from to the Hon. Henry 

Wilson, then, as now. Chairman of the Senate Committee on Mili- 
tary Affiiirs. The note was simply an application to Mr, Wilson 
to use his influence in behalf of the writer in securing the reten- 
tion and extension of his transactions with the Medical Depart- 
ment. Mr. was informed that no change in the mode of 

obtaining supplies was contemplated. 

Senate Chamber, Washinqton, 
January 15tli, 1SG3. 
My dear Sir : — 

The bearer, , of the firm of , of Philadelphia, has been of so 

much service to the friends of the tjovernment in Pennsylvania in all their 
trials to sustain the President and his administration, and his firm is of so 
high and unquestionable a character, that 1 take the liberty of asking that 
you may honor him with a share of your patronage in Philadelphia. I do 

this with less reluctance, since I have learned from Mr. that he has 

already laid his case before you; and I cheerfully add the expression, that I 



should feel your encouragement of his house, if this can be done without 
detriment to the public service, as a favor done to myself. 

Yours truly, 
W. A. HAMMOND, J. W. FORNEY. 

Surgeon- General. 

This is one of two letters which I have in my possession from 
Mr. Forney. As I had never seen this gentleman, I^ considered 
him impertinently familiar, and did not hesitate to express my 
opinion to this effect. Since my trial, he has been among the 
most active — in his two newspapers, the Qhronicle, of Washing- 
ton, and the Press, of Philadelphia — in abusing me for construing 
the law, as he. Senator Wilson, and many others wished me to 
construe it in favor of their friends. I do not give the names of 
the dealers in whose behalf they wrote, as it is very far from my 
intention to mix them up in my affairs, and I have no reason to 
blame them for their action. 

Now, although I had, as I thought then, and still believe, the 
right to direct when, where, and of whom purchases should be 
made, I never gave a dozen orders myself, either directly or indi- 
rectly, in favor of any one. But I sanctioned large expenditures. 
I considered them necessary, and they were necessary, to bring 
the administration of the Department up to the advanced state 
which had been reached in foreign armies, the British especially. 
I never counted dollars when a man's life was in question. As 
an illustration of my views, the following letter, addressed to 
Assistant Surgeon J. Letterman on his appointment as Medical 
Director of the Army of the Potomac, is subjoined: — 

Subgeon-General's Office,. 
June 19tb, 18U2. 
ASSISTANT SURGEON J. LETTERMAN, 

3Iedical Director Army of the Potomac. 
Sir:— 

You are detailed for duty with the Army of the Potomac as Medical 
Director. 

In making this assignment I have been governed by what I conceive to 
be the best interests of the service. Your energy, determination, and faith- 
ful discharge of duty in all the different situations in which you have been 
placed during your service of thirteen years, determined me to place you in 
the most arduous, responsible, and trying position you have yet occupied. 

On the eve of your departure, I desii-e to place before you some of the 
main points which should engage your attention: — 

\st. You should satisfy yourself that the medical supplies are of proper 
quantity and of good quality, and that each regiment has its full allowance; 
and you will hold the senior medical officer to a strict accountabihty for any 
deficiency. The time has passed when the excuse of no supplies will be 
accepted. 

2d. You will lay before the ofiicers of the Quartermaster's Department 
your necessities in regard to transportation, and communicate freely with 
the General commanding relative to those things in which he is able to 
assist you. 

3d. You will require all medical officers to be attentive and faithful in the 



discharjje of their duties, and you "will report instantly to the General com- 
mandiiiir and to this office all cases of dereliction. 

Ml. You will, in conjunction with Assistant Surgeon Dunster, U. S. Army 
Medical Director of Transportation, arrange for the safe, effectual, comfort- 
able, and speedy transportation of such sick and wounded as in your opinion 
should be removed from the limits of the army to which yon are attached. 
You will bear in mind, however, the provision of General Order No. 65, rela- 
tive to the transportation of troops, and you will, therefore, as far as possible, 
provide for those cases at such points iu your vicinity as may seem best 
adapted to the purpose. 

5^/i. You will hire such physicians, nurses, etc. as you may require and as 
you can obtain on the spot, making known to me immediately your deficien- 
cies in that respect at the earliest possible moment, so that I can supply you. 

For the full performance of all these duties you are authorized to call 
directly on the Medical Purveyors in Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, 
and New York, who will be directed to furnish you with everything you may 
ask for, regardless of supply tables or forms. You will only be required to notify 
me by letter what you have ordered, and of whom ; and you are directed to 
correspond frequently with me, and to make known such wants as can only 
be filled by my requisitions on the several bureaus here or through the orders 
of the Secretary of War. 

And now, trusting to your possession of those qualities, without which I 
should never have assigned you to this duty, I commit to you the health, 
the comfort, and the lives of thousands of our fellow-soldiers who are fighting 
for the maintenance of their liberties. 

1 am, Sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon-General U. S. Army. 

My detail of Dr. Letterman met with opposition from the War 
Department, and it was only after some correspondence that it 
was made. Mr. Stanton did not like him, probably because I 
had previously recommended him for the position of Medical 
Inspector-General. This I did as soon as I was appointed Sur- 
geon-General, and before any considerable ill feeling was excited 
in Mr. Stanton against me. He directed the appointment to be 
made. The papers were accordingly prepared by General Hart- 
suff; but before they were sent to the Senate, the Secretary of 
War had occasion to discover that it was not my intention to be 
his tool, and so he refused to give the appointment to one who 
would have made the office what it ought to be. 

What tended also to lead to the supposition that I was reckless 
in expenditures, was my establishment of a diet table for hos- 
pitals. Previously no such thing was known. Every surgeon in 
charge of a hospital was allowed to feed his patients as he pleased. 
I appointed a board of medical officers to arrange a complete sys- 
tem of diet for hospitals. This was done, and was approved by 
me, and ordered to be strictly adhered to. Although the scale 
was no more liberal than that in operation in the ho^-pitals of the 
British army, Mr. Stanton condemned it. Fearful, however, of 
popular opinion, he confined his demonstrations to the expression 
of his disapprobation. It must be recollected that the expense of 



9 

this diet table was, in the main, met by the sale of the ordinary 
rations of the inmates of hospitals, which they were unable to use, 
and was not a charge upon the Government. 

Another cause of Mr. Stanton's hostility, which had now become 
manifest to every one who had the opportunity of observing his 
conduct, was my course in regard to the ambulance corps, which, 
notwithstanding his continued rebuffs, I persistently forced upon 
his attention. Again, afraid of what the country would think of his 
opposition to a measure so indispensable to the welfare of the sick 
and wounded, he left the matter to be decided by General Hal- 
leck. When I went to this officer with a plan for such a corps, 
he refused to hear me utter one word on the subject. I then sent 
it to the Secretary of War direct. It was referred to General 
Halleck, and disapproved. My first letter on the subject was as 
follows: — 

Sukgeon-Geneeal's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
August 21st, 1862. 
Sir:— 

In accordance with your verbal permission, I have the honor to submit the 
inclosed project for an Hospital Corps, and to ask your favorable consider- 
ation for the same. 

The plan is merely submitted as a basis upon which the corps can be 
organized. Much will remain to be done by regulations, and I propose, 
should you approve the inclosed outline, to ask for a Board of Medical Offi- 
cers to perfect the organization. I have not considered it necessary to enter 
into details; the first thin^ essential is to obtain your sanction to the organ- 
ization of such a corps. The need for it is most urgent. In no battle yet 
have the wounded been properly looked after; men, under the pretense of 
carrying them off the field, leave the ranks, and seldom return to their proper 
duties. 

The adoption of this plan would do away with the necessity of taking men 
from the line of the army, to perform the duties of nurses, cooks, and attend- 
ants, and thus return sixteen thousand men to duty in the ranks. 

In view of these facts, and many others which could be adduced, I respect- 
fully ask your approval of the inclosed project. 
1 am. Sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surg eon- General. 

Secretary/ of War. 

As I have said, my plan was disapproved by General Halleck, 
and his action met with Mr. Stanton's approval. 

On the seventh of September, after General Pope's defeat at 
Bull Run, when the whole country was shocked with the intelli- 
gence that our wounded lay for days on the battle-field exposed 
to every privation, I wrote again : — 

SDaOEON-GENERAL's OFFICE, WASHINGTON CiTY, D. C, 

September 7, 1862. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to ask your attention to the frightful state of disorder 
existing in the arrangements for removing the wounded from the field of bat- 



10 

tie. The scarcity of ambulances, the want of organization, the drunkenness 
and incompetency of the drivers, the total absence of ambulance attendants, 
are now worldnfj their legitimate results — results which I feel I have no right 
to keep from the knowledge of the department. The whole system should 
be under the charge of the Medical Department. An ambulance corps 
should be organized and set in instant operation. I have already laid before 
you a ))lan for such an organization, which, I think, covers the whole ground, 
but which. I am sorry to find, does not meet with the approval of the Gen- 
eral-in-Chief I am not wedded to it. I only ask that some system may be 
adopted by which the removal of the sick from the field of battle may be 
speedily accomplished, and the suffering to which they are now subjected be 
in future as far as possible avoided. 

Up to this date, six hundred wounded still remain on the battle-field, ia 
consequence of an insufficiency of ambulances, and the want of a proper 
system for regulating their removal, in the Army of Virginia. Many have 
died of starvation, many more will die in consequence of exhaustion, and all 
have endured torments which might have been avoided. 

I ask, Sir, that you will give me your aid in this matter, that you will in- 
terpose to prevent a recurrence of such consequences as have followed the 
recent battle — consequences which will inevitably ensue on the next import- 
ant engagement, if nothing is done to obviate them. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon-General 

Secretary of War. 

My application was again unsuccessful, and the Secretary told 
Governor Andrew (as I am informed by a gentleman who was 
present) that he had no confidence in my judgment. For my 
persistency, I received his personal abuse, and was warned 
against any repetition of my importunity. 

How different the course of the Secretary of War and the 
General-in Chief was from that of General McClellan, will be 
seen from the following letter : — 

Headquarters Army of the Potomac, 
October 25th, 1862. 
General: — 

An ambulance corps has been in existence in this army since August 2d, 
1862, and has been of great service. It would be of still greater service were 
the men enlisted for this particular duty. I approve of an ambulance corps 
for the whole army, and consider it indispensable for the proper care of the 
wounded. 

The men should be enlisted especially for this purpose, and used for no 
other, and should be placed in a camp of instruction and taught their duties. 
The plan now in force in this army, I recommend, with some modification, 
to be adopted throughout the forces of the United States. 
1 am, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. .servt., 
(Signed) GEORGE B. McCLELLAN, 

Major-General U. S, Army. 
MAJOR-GENERAL H, W, HALLECK, 

General-in- Chief. 



11 

And, as showing the action of the Sanitary Commission, I 
subjoin the following letter: — 

[COPY.] 

U. S. Sanitakt Commission, New York Agency, 823 Broadway, 
New York, February 26th, 1863. 

Hon. senator WILSON. 
Dear General : — 

I see that the House have passed the ambulance bill, and now that it is 
to go through the ordeal of the Senate, its fate is probably in your hands. 
I have attentively watched its history. The Surgeon-General, in connection 
with the Quartermaster-General, (who originally opposed the bill,) agreed 
upon the bill originally prepared by the Surgeon -General. It was carefully 
studied, and can only be harmed by tinkering. I sincerely hope it may be 
passed without hesitation or delay. I pledge you my word that it is a good 
bill and an honest one, and entitled to unqualified support from the Military 
Committee. I speak as an expert, who has made this matter a serious and 
careful study. 

Let me entreat you again not to allow your faith in the Surgeon-General 
to be shaken. The Secretary of War, in whose patriotism, zeal, and ability 
I have general confidence, and whose hands I would not weaken by a word 
of public criticism, is, nevertheless, a man of strong personal prejudices, irri- 
table, and often very unjust. His dislike of Dr. Hammond is a most unfortu- 
nate thing for the service. If he succeeds in injuring the Surgeon-General 
with the Military Committee or with the Senate, he will inflict a greater 
wound on the sick and wounded in the hospitals and in the army than he 
can heal over in two years to come. 

The Surgeon- General has brought order out of chaos in his department, 
and efficiency out of imbecility. The sick and wounded owe a hundred times 
over more to the Government and the Medical Department than to all the 
outside influences and benevolence of the country combined, including the 
Sanitary Commission ! The Surgeon-General is the best friend the sick sol- 
dier has in this country, because he wields the benevolence of the U. S. 
Government. For God's sake, don't thwart his zeal and wisdom. 

Yours truly, 

HENRY W. BELLOWS. 

But all was in vain. The united wishes of General McClellan 
and myself could not be acceded to; and although the Sanitary 
Commission and eminent gentlemen in :^11 parts of the country 
(among whom. Dr. H. W. Bowditch, of Boston, who had seen for 
himself, must be counted first) begged for favorable action on my 
application, their efforts were fruitless. After I was relieved from 
the charge of the bureau, the Secretary of War had no difficulty 
in agreeing to the establishment of an ambulance system. He 
was determined, however, that I should not only not have the 
credit of it, but should, so far as his action could insure it, have 
the blame for the sufferings the wounded were obliged to undergo. 

In the fall and winter of 1862, I incurred a great deal of un- 
popularity from the fact that, although I had visited the armies 
of the East, I had not, since my appointment as Surgeon-General, 
been to the West. The newspapers denounced me for this failure, 



12 

and I received many letters from prominent gentlemen in the 
West, urging me to go to that section. 

Before the public attention was directed to this matter, I had 
made application to the Secretary of War for authority to go 
West and had been refused. He saw that ill feeling would be 
excited against me, and he could not let slip the opportunity of 
doing me an injury. My first letter was as follows : — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
January 5th, 18G3. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to request your authority to make a tour of inspection 
of the hospitals in St. Louis, Keokuk, Memphis, Nashville, and such other 
points as upon further consideration I may determine upon. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon- General. 

Secretary of War. 

I took this letter to the War Department myself, and was told 
by Mr. Stanton that I could not go. He even refused to receive 
the letter, and I brought it back and filed it in the office, with 
this indorsement: — 

" Not approved by the Secretary of War. 

" WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

"Surgkon-General's Office,) " Surgeon- General. 

"January 6th, 1863." j 

On the thirty-first of January I wrote again. I knew the abso- 
lute necessity of giving my personal attention to the medical 
affairs of the Western armies. This was essential not only for 
the sake of the sick and wounded, but was also demanded from a 
regard for my own reputation, which I saw was suffering in that 
quarter. I was blamed for neglect, and with apparent justice. 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
January 31st, 1863. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to request your authority to proceed to the West on a 
tour of inspection. 

I have reason to believe that such a visit is almost indispensable at this 
time. I know that I feel the necessity of a more intimate acquaintance with 
the hospital arrangements, and other matters connected with the Medical 
Department there, than 1 can obtain in any other way than by personal ob- 
servation. I am, Sir, very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

W. A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon-General. 

Secretary of War. 

No notice whatever was taken of this letter. 



13 

As showing still further the line of action the Secretary of 
War had decided upon, I subjoin the following: — 

SURaEON-GENERAL's OFFICE, WASHINGTON ClTT, D. C, 

March 2d, 18G3. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to request your authority to proceed to New York and 
Philadelphia on important business connected with the Hospital Department 
of the army. 

I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon- General 

Secretary of War. 

The business I explained to the Secretary the following day. 
It had reference to the laboratories which I had established in 
those cities for the manufacture of many of the medicines and 
stores required by the Medical Department. I understood him 
to consent to my going, and I intended to do so with my friend. 
Dr. S. Weir Mitchell, of Philadelphia, who was then in Washing- 
ton; but on the mornincr I designed to leave I received a com- 
munication from the War Department, signed by Colonel Hardie, 
which contained the following sentence : — 

"In the opinion of the Secretary of "War, it is the duty of the chief of a 
bureau to remain in Washington, and transact his business in writing," 

Considering the fact that a few months subsequently the Adju- 
tant-General, the Quartermaster-General, the Commissary-Gen- 
eral, the Chief of Ordnance, the Chief Signal Officer, and the 
Surgeon-General were all sent away from Washington, we cannot 
fail to perceive the remarkable change which Mr. Stanton's opin- 
ion underwent, or avoid the conclusion that, so far from being 
actuated by principle, he was governed by some unworthy motive. 

One of the first means which the Secretary of War took to 
embarrass me in my duties as Surgeon-General, and to bring me, 
if possible, into disrepute, was his persistent refusal to place funds 
in the hands of the Medical Purveyors. Owing to this course on 
his part, supplies had to be purchased at advanced rates, and the 
debts of the Medical Department not being paid when due, a 
great deal of complaint was made by those who suffered. Many 
of these were poor men, and they and their families were depend- 
ent on the small incomes they received from the Government. 
My correspondence with Mr. Stanton on this point was so exten- 
sive that it will be impossible to bring forward all my letters. 
They are, however, attached to the record of the court-martial 
before which I was tried, and will all see the light when that record 
is published 

The following will be suffieicnt to show the nature of the diffi- 



14 

culty which existed. It must be recollected that my letters were 
based upon the official representations of medical officers, besides 
my own personal knowledge: — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
November 19th, 18G2. 
Sir :— 

In consideration of the very great need of funds for medical and hospital 
purposes in the West, I have the honor to request that you will direct the 
payment of a requisition from this office, dated October 8th, 1862, which bore 
your approval or sanction some time early in October last. The requisition 
was made in favor of Surgeon Glover Perin, Medical Purveyor at Cincin- 
nati, for $187,204 82, to cover one for the same amount in favor of Assistant 
Surgeon J. P. Wright, Medical Purveyor at Cincinnati, Ohio, dated 10th 

Jyjy_ ******* 

Medical disbursing ofScers in the West are out of funds, the creditors 
against Government are clamorous for payment, and I respectfully request 
your prompt action in the matter. 

Most respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon- General. 

Secretary of War. 

Suegeon-Gbneral's Office, Washington, D. C, 
December 6th, 1862. 
Sir :— 

I have the honor to inform you that it is officially reported to this office 
that many families of Government employees in Philadelphia are suffering 
from want of food, fuel, and clothing, caused by the absence of funds in the 
hands of the disbursing officer in Philadelphia. Also, that the gas has been 
shut off from the premises of the Medical Storekeeper on the same account. 
I therefore respectfully request that a portion of the funds placed to the 
credit of Surgeon Cooper be transferred to the credit of Medical Storekeeper 
V. Zoeller, for the payment of such indebtedness. 
I am. Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surg eon- General. 

Secretary of War. 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
February 16th, 18(58. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to transmit the inclosed requisitions for your approval, 
as follows : — 

Surgeon R. S. Satterlee, New York $250,000 00 

" R. Murray, Philadelphia 250,000 00 

" P. G. S. Ten Broeck, San Fiancisco 15,000 00 

«* C. C. Cox, Baltimore 5,000 00 

M. S. K Ilennel Stevens, Cairo 1,000 00 

Surgeon (Mills. Sutherland, Memphis 5,000 00 

M. S. K. Henry .Johnson, Washington 250,000 00 

" Henry N. Rittenhouse, Cincinnati 88,008 35 

The several amounts of these requisitions are now all due, and most of 
them have been due for months. I have to request, therefore, that such a 



15 

course may be taken as will place the required funds in the proper places 
for distribution as soon as practicable. 

I am, yir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

W. A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon- General 

Secretary of War. 

In answer to a pressing application for money from Surgeon 
Robert Murray, Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia, the following 
letter was written : — 

Subgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
February 28t.h, 1863. 
Sir :— 

Your communication of the 26th inst., requesting that the balance of the 
requisition, viz., $125,000, may be sent to you in money, has been received. 

In reply, I am instructed to say that this department is taking every step 
in its power to hasten the issue of money to its disbursing officers. It knows 
and appreciates the urgent necessity for such issue, and has not neglected its 
duty. 

By order of the Surgeon-General. 

Yery respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 
(Signed) ^ C. H. ALDEN, 

Assistant Surgeon U. S. Army. 
SURG. ROBERT MURRAY, U, S. A., 

Medical Purveyor, Philadelphia. 

These are a few only of the letters written relative to funds ; 
and in consequence of the neglect and refusal of the Secretary of 
War to do his duty, the credit of the Medical Department was 
seriously impaired and its operations materially interfered with. 
At Louisville, Kentucky, a great need existed for funds, but the 
only answer I received to my application that they should be sent 
there, was the following : — 

War Department, Washington City, 
August 29tli, 1863. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to report, that your request (date blank) for a remittance 
of $100,000 to Surgeon A. P. Aleylert has been cancelled in this office, by 
the Secretary of War, before it passed into the Treasury. 
Yery respectfully, 

Your most obedt. servt., 

E. WINSTON HALL, 

Requisition Clerk. 
To SURGEON-GENERAL W. A. HAMMOND. 

In answer to my verbal remonstrances with Mr. Stanton, which 
were frequent, the only reply ever made was that doctors knew 
nothing of money matters, and he would not trust them with large 
amounts. 

During all this period there were no regulations but those which 
had been adopted for the old army of fifteen thousand men. Of 
course they were inadequate, and in many cases altogether inap- 



X 



16 

plicable. After repeated requests, I succeeded in having a board 
detailed to prepare a new code. When their labor was completed, 
the Secretary refused to act upon the regulations recommended. 
I had, therefore, to assume responsibilities and powers, which 
otherwise it would not have been necessary for me to take. 

I have thus run over, as briefly as possible, some of the points 
which show Mr. Stanton's animus. It may be asked, " what was 
the reason of his animosity?" The cause existed in the fact that 
I gave him to understand, from a very early period of my official 
career, that I, for one, would not quietly submit to the insolence 
which he constantly exhibited toward his subordinates. 

Two days after my appointment, he sent for me. I went to his 
office, and the following conversation took place. His tone and 
manner were offensive in the extreme, being that of one who is 
determined to crush out if possible all opposition: — 

"What are Dr. Bellows and the Sanitary Commission about?" 
asked he. 

"I don't know, sir," I answered. 

"I want to tell you," he said, "that if you have the enterprise, 
the knowledge, the intelligence, and the brains to run the Medical 
Department, I will assist you." 

" Mr. Secretary," I replied, " I am not accustomed to be 
spoken to in that manner by any person, and I beg you will ad- 
dress me in more respectful terms." 

"What do you mean?" he exclaimed. 

"Simply," I said, "that during my service in the army, I have 
been thrown with gentlemen, who, no matter what our relative 
rank was, treated me with respect. Now, that I have become 
Surgeon- General, I do not intend to exact anything less than I 
did when I was an Assistant Surgeon, and I will not permit you 
to speak to me in such language as you have just used." 

"Then, sir," said he, "you can leave my office immediately." 
I accordingly left it, and I have never entered it or his house 
since, except upon strictly official business. 

It would be impossible for me to detail the hundredth part 
of the insults of all kinds I was compelled, to some extent, to 
bear. Not content with inflicting all the personal indignities he 
thought it safe to venture upon, he did not hesitate to abuse me 
to others. Every obstacle at his command was thrown in my 
way. The organization of the Department intended by law 
was delayed on account of his persistent refusal to appoint the 
officers of the Medical Inspectors Corps ; and thus, notwithstand- 
ing the positive enactment that immediately after the passage of 
the act, the officers to fill this corps should be selected, weeks and 
even months were suffered to elapse before the objects contem- 
plated by Congress could be attained. The need for the services 
of these officers was -most urgent, and was frequently brought to 



17 

Mr. Stanton's notice by myself and the President of the Sanitary 
Commission; and when at hist he condescended to make the ap- 
pointments, several, against my representations as to their unfit- 
ness, were selected, who had nothing but their political opinions 
and affinities to recommend them. 

After Pope's defeat, when the wounded were being brought 
into Washington by thousands, I found it necessary to extend 
still further the hospital accommodations. The churches and 
other public buildings were filled, the Patent-office was used for 
the sick and wounded, and the only other buildings available were 
the Capitol and Executive Mansion. The latter was not then 
occupied by the President or his family, and not long before a 
company of soldiers had been quartered in it. I therefore made 
application for the Capitol and for the East Room of the Presi- 
dent's house, the latter to be used as an officer's hospital. 

When the application reached the Secretary, he sent for me, 
and I was again the recipient of his abuse. Again I repelled it, 
as I always did. I knew no reason why the sick and wounded 
should not have the best building in the country if it was neces- 
sary. Hundreds were then lying on the ground for want of a 
place in which to put them, and I told him so in plain language. 
The end of it was that the Capitol was ordered to be turned over 
to me. He was afraid to refuse it ; but he informed me I should 
hear from him again on the subject, which, however, I never did, 
except that he told a distinguished officer of the army that my 
conduct had been exceedingly presumptuous. The East Room 
was never turned over if he ordered it. 

During the whole time that I remained in Washington as chief 
of the Medical Bureau, I never had one word of advice or en- 
couragement from Mr. Stanton. Amid all my embarrassments 
arising from inexperience in business, he never, by word or deed, 
gave me any assistance which he could refuse with safety to him- 
self. Every advance which I made toward him was repelled 
with harshness. I was obliged to rely entirely on my own views 
and exertions, and such advice as I could get from other mem- 
bers of the corps. Although he studiously withheld his aid, I 
was repeatedly called upon to explain the most trifling acts on 
my part which appeared to him to be infringements on his rights. 
As an example of his littleness of mind and forgetfulness, the fol- 
lowing letter is adduced. It is in reply to one from his office 
directing me, in peremptory terms, to report by what authority I 
granted passes to the Army of the Potomac. 

Suroeon-Geneeal's Office, Washington, D. C, 
December 29th, 1862. 
Sir :— 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 27th inst., 
requiring me to report by what authority passes are granted at my office to 



18 

visit Falmouth or any other place within the lines of the armies of the United 
States. 

In reply, I have the honor to inform you that T grant such passes by 
authority of General Orders No. 48, dated War Department, Adjutant- 
General's Office. April 28th, 1862. 

In addition to the above, par. iv., General Orders 187, dated Headquarters 
Army of the Potomac, camp near Falmouth, Va., November 27th, 1862, 
directs orders for passes from the Bureaus of the War Department to be 
honored. 

I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon-General 

Secretary of War. 

Here he had called me to account for doing what his own pub- 
lished order authorized me to do ! I am not the only one whom 
he has visited with quasi reprimands for following his instructions, 
as many officers who read this statement will call to mind. To 
be subjected to Mr. Stanton's temper for acts which one has per- 
formed by his authority was bad enough, but to be required to re- 
port on aftdirs the consequences of his own deliberate conduct, was 
even more intolerable. 

On the 24th of July, 1863, the Governor of Wisconsin wrote 
to the Secretary of War, requesting permission to remove the sick 
soldiers at Memphis and other points, belonging to his State, to 
their homes. The Governor stated that this privilege had been 
repeatedly denied him, but had been accorded to the Governor 
of Indiana. The Governor of Wisconsin set forth in fitting 
terms the unfairness of this discrimination being made in favor 
of another State and against Wisconsin, and that ill feeling was 
being excited in consequence. 

This letter was referred to my office, with directions to report 
immediately why the Governor of Indiana had been allowed to 
take soldiers from the hospitals and remove them to his State. 
As I knew nothing about it, I sent the communication to the 
Medical Director of General Grant's army for report. In a few 
weeks the answer came that the sick and wounded Indiana sol- 
diers had been removed in accordance with an order to th^it eflfect 
from the Secretary of War himself! A copy of this order was 
inclosed to me, and I sent it to Mr, Stanton as an answer to his 
call on me for an explanation. It was as follows: — 

Bt Telegraph from Wasuington. 

May 25th, 1863. 
To GOV. MORTON. 

The Medical Director of General Grant's army is hereby instructed tO 
cause such of the Indiana troops wounded in the late engagements, as will 
be probably unfit for service within forty days, to be transported to the 
United States hospitals in the State of Indiana, to the extent of their accom- 
modations, under the direction of his Excellency Governor Mortou. 
This telegram will serve as a formal order. 

(Signed) EDWIN M. STANTON. 



19 

Of course these circumstances irritated him ; and he was still 
further inflamed against me by my exposure of the character of 
the individual whom he had selected, with a full knowledge of his 
shortcomings and against ray remonstrances, to fill the important 
position of Medical Inspector-General. I had detected this person 
in positive and willful falsehood, and had exhibited him in his true 
light. I had preferred charges against him for his misconduct, 
and a court was ordered for his trial, (as it appeared subsequently 
without Mr. Stanton's knowledge,) the witnesses were summoned, 
and the Judge Advocate, Major Gaines, was ready to go on with 
the case, when an order was received from the Secretary of War 
dissolving the court. The ofiender had been appointed because 
he was a relative of Mr. Fessenden, the present Secretary of the 
Treasury, and he was let off without a trial for the same reason. 
In a conversation which I had a few days previously with Mr. 
Fessenden, he asked me to withdraw the charges, and told me if 
I persisted in them it would be a bad thing for me. Of course I 
refused. 

Even in the smallest matters, the interference of Mr. Stan- 
ton was exerted against me. An orderly of my own ofiice, whom 
I had placed in arrest for a positive disobedience of orders, given 
in carrying out Mr. Stanton's instructions, was released by him. 
I was therefore not even allowed to enforce discipline among 
those who were under my immediate direction. To show the 
depth to which the Secretary of War could descend to gratify his 
malice, the following correspondence is given : — 

War Department, Washington Citt, 
February 5th, 1863. 

The Surgeon-General will report specifically the charges upon which Cor- 
poral C. W. Thayer, Co. K, Scott's 900, is imprisoned in the guard-house, and 
the term for which he has been sentenced, and by what tribunal or authority. 
By order of the Secretary of War. 

(Signed) ' P. H. WATSON, 

Assistant Secretary of War, 

To 'this order I replied as follows : — 

Sueokon-Gbnekal's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
February 6th, 1863. 
Sir :— 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your communication of 
the 5th instant, just received, and to state in reply thereto that Corporal 
C. W. Thayer, Co. K, Scott's 900, an orderly in my office, was confined in 
the guard-house for refusing to answer certain questions propounded to him 
in the course of an investigation, instituted by your order, in regard to certain 
charges made against J. N. Callan, a clerk of this office. 

This confinement was preparatory to the preferment of specific charges 
against him for positive and willful disobedience of orders, and was the ordi- 
nary and customary mode of procedure in such cases. He was confined by 

2 



20 

my authority, as his immediate commanding ofi5cer, an authority which is 
exercised by every commissioned ofiBcer of the array of every corps. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Surgeon-General U.S.A. 

Secretary of War. 

As I have said, the man was released and was placed again on 
duty in my office, mainly if not entirely through the exertions of 
the Medical Inspector-General previously referred to. Finally, 
this latter individual proceeded to such extremities that even the 
Secretary of War could no longer remain his advocate with safety. 
Other officers, among whom were Generals Hooker and Heintzel- 
man, called attention to his practices, and I detected him in giving 
hlank certificates of discharge to soldiers, and, having obtained 
two of these documents, sent them to the War Department with 
the following indorsement: — 

These papers are respectfully submitted to the Secretary of War as exhib- 
iting a reckless disregard of truth and propriety, and for the interests of the 
service. 

In order to prevent such abuses as the present, the law authorizing offi- 
cers of the Medical Inspector's Department to discharge soldiers provides 
"that every such certificate shall appear on its face to have been founded 
on personal inspection of the soldier so discharged, and shall specifically 
describe the nature and origin of such disability;" and no more effectual 
means could have been devised for neutralizing the efforts of the Govern- 
ment to maintain the numerical strength of the army than the issue to sol- 
diers of certificates of discharge signed in blank, and of course marketable 
articles. These blank certificates and discharges, to which the signatures 
of the Medical Inspector-General are attached, were taken from a soldier by 
an agent of the Sanitary Commission, who placed them in my hands. The 
soldier received them from the Medical Inspector-General. I have reason 
to believe that these are by no means the only documents of the kind which 
have been issued by this officer ; and the letter of Medical Inspector Goolidge, 
herewith inclosed, refers to another case which has come to his knowledge. 

I respectfully submit t^o the Hon. Secretary of War, that an officer who 
would be guilty, in addition to his other offenses, of such acts as Dr. Perley 
is by those papers shown to have perpetrated, is unfit, by want of principle, 
by lack of common sense, and by a disregard for the interests of the Govern- 
ment he has sworn to support, to hold the commission of an officer of the 
army, or to be deemed worthy of association with the members of an honor- 
able profession. W. A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General. 
Suroeon-General's Office, ) 



May 16th, 1863. 



And yet, notwithstanding all this, Dr. Perley was kept in office 
several months longer as Inspector-General, was then allowed to 
resign, and was immediately appointed a surgeon of volunteers, 
which position he now fills. The regard of the Secretary of War 
for law and common decency, when it is his interest to disregard 
both, is rendered sufficiently apparent from a consideration of his 



21 

course in relation to this man. I should not have brought the 
subject into this statement but for the fact that one of the speci- 
fications on which I was tried was for requiring the Medical 
Inspectors to send their reports to me. 

Up to the period of my recommendation that Dr. Cooper should 
be relieved from duty as Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia, the 
Secretary of War had never found any fault with me for my 
financial management of the Medical Department. I had drawn 
up a bill providing for the appointment of Medical Storekeepers, 
to take charge of the large depots of supplies it was my intention 
to establish at various points. Previous to my appointment, it 
was not the custom of the Department to keep stores on hand in 
any large amounts. When a requisition was received by the 
Medical Bureau it was sent to the Purveyor in New York for 
issue, and he had the articles put up by the dealers. But this 
was attended with great delay, I had myself experienced the ill 
efiects of this course, and I believe that one of the greatest im- 
provements I inaugurated was the system of keeping stores on 
hand for any emergency likely to arise. This, however, w&.s made 
the basis of one of the specifications against me. Mr. Stanton 
knew perfectly well what 1 was doing. He not only approved of 
the bill mentioned, but he amended it in his own handwriting, 
and I have now in my possession the original draft with his inter- 
lineations. 

He approved of this bill because he thought it would give him 
patronage and more power; but as the law expressly provided 
that Medical Purveyors should purchase under the direction of 
the Surg eon- General, I did not intend that he should interfere if 
I could prevent it. In the very great majority of cases, the Pur- 
veyors purchased, untrammeled by me in any respect. When I 
thought it expedient or advantageous to the service, I gave them 
orders, as I had a right under the law to do. 

I recommended Dr. Cooper's relief from duty as Purveyor for 
several reasons. 

In the first place, many complaints were made to me relative 
to his disgustingly ofi'ensive manners. In the second place, I 
had frequently seen for myself that his conduct, instead of 
being that of a high-toned officer, was just the reverse; his 
office was a lounging place for those seeking orders, and was 
scarcely above a grog-shop in its status. In the third place. 
General Halleck had requested me to send Dr. Murray to Phila- 
delphia, and there was no one there who could be so well sent 
away as Dr. Cooper. I did not suspect him of dishonesty. On 
the contrary, I thought him above reproach in this respect, and I 
was also entirely satisfied with his energy and promptness. Since 
then I have had abundant reason to know that his conduct was 
not so honorable as I had imagined. 



22 

In detailing Dr. Cooper for duty as Medical Director of Gen- 
eral Buell's army, I gave no reasons to the Secretary of War 
until he subsequently called on me for them. Reasons for a de- 
tail never are given unless they are called for. The order was 
issued by him; but, through the influence of the dealers who 
were dependent on Dr. Cooper for patronage, he was replaced as 
Medical Purveyor, in Philadelphia, by the Secretary of War. 
EflForts were made by them to eifect my removal, and money was 
attempted to be raised for the purpose. To this effect I have 
the evidence of two respectable merchants of Philadelphia, who 
were called on to contribute, one of them being told that he "could 
make a good thing of it." I do not give the names of these 
gentlemen now, but they are ready to speak out, should occasion 
require; and it is well known to many of my friends that they 
were approached in the manner stated. 

As soon as Dr. Cooper learned that he was to be relieved from 
duty in Philadelphia, he wrote me a private letter, asking me to 
tell him freely why he was relieved. I wrote him a kind, friendly 
letter, in' which I endeavored to spare him pain, at the same time 
that I gave him some of the reasons for removing him. That 
letter is as follows, and is the one in which I am accused of say- 
ing what was not true in reference to General Halleck. (2d 
Charge, p. 31.) 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
October 13th, 1862. 
My dear Doctor : — 

I have just received your note. The detail of your relieval from duty as 
Medical Purveyor went to the Adjutant-General a few days since. I told 
Smith to inform you of it. 

It was with very great reluctance, even with pain, that I made the detail. 
I am entirely satisfied with your energy, faithfulness, and acquaintance with 
your duty ; but I tind great complaints made in regard to your manner, 
which were constantly reiterated from medical officers and citizens of stand- 
ing. I believe the change would have been made over my head, had I not 
made it myself. I was forced to come to the conclusion that it was neces- 
sary to be done. Once before, the detail was made, but I would not sign it; 
and this time it lay on my table several days. This is one reason. 

The second is even more imperative. Halleck requested, as a particular 
favor, that Murray might be ordered to Philadelphia. 'J'here was nothing 
for Murray to do there but to take your place. King's, or Smith's. 

The latter have both been long in active service, and I thought it best to 
relieve you on that account. As A. K. Smith is in my opinion better suited 
to perform the duties of Purveyor than Murray, I decided to make him Pur- 
veyor, and Murray Medical Director of Transportation. 

I assure you, that so far as your official action is concerned, I have not 
the least fault to find. 

Yours sincerely, W. A. HAMMOND. 

Now, this was a private letter, written from one friend to an- 
other, under the sanctity of friendship. He sent ft to the Secretary 
of War, in order that the latter might see what I had said in refer- 



23 

ence to the change heing made over my head. This was the only 
part of the letter Mr. Stanton ever found fault with to me. He 
asked me if he had ever removed an officer against ray wishes. I 
told him he had. He directed me to specify the instances, taking a 
pen in his hand with which to write down their names. I men- 
tioned Dr. McMillan, whom, against my earnest remonstrances 
and those of the Medical Director of the Army of the Potomac, 
he had taken from his duties in the field, and sent to Albany to 
report to Governor Morgan for some State duty. I mentioned 
Dr. Bradley, whom he had directed me to remove from the charge 
of a hospital in Washington, because some woman found fault 
with his management. I cited three or four other instances, and 
told him I could adduce several more by consulting the records. 
He threw down his pen in a rage, and told me he wanted no 
further conversation with me. 

As soon as I was informed that Dr. Cooper had sent my letter 
to the Secretary of War, I wrote to him as follows: — 

Surgeon-General's Office, 
October 20th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

In the discharge of the duties intrusted to me, I deemed it best, for the 
interests of the service, to request your relief from duty as Medical Purveyor 
in Philadelphia, and to assign yon to duty as Medical Director of General 
Buell's army, in place of Surgeon Murray, who has been for a long period in 
active service in the field. You have seen fit (first extracting from me a 
private letter, in which I freely stated to you some of the reasons by which 
I had been governed) to use means for effecting a change of your order, hith- 
erto unemployed by officers of your corps. 

This course meets with my unqualified disapprobation; and by taking it 
you have forfeited the confidence of this department, and have shown that 
you are incapable of appreciating the relation in which you stand to the chief 
of your corps. I shall deem it my duty to see that you have as little oppor- 
tunity as possible for exercising those traits which led me to request your 
transfer. Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

W. A. HAMMOND, 
SURGEON GEO. E. COOPER, Surgeon-General. 

U. S. Army, Philadelphia. 

The only accusation touching my business management which 
the Secretary of War ever made to me was that of extravagance. 
Soon after the conversation just mentioned, he required me to 
make out a report of the transactions of the bureau before and after 
my appointment, which the chief clerk of my office informed me 
would take twenty-five clerks three months to prepare. I there- 
fore made a written application for this number of clerks for this 
special labor, and also for additional office room. Both requests 
were refused. I then put two clerks, all I had to spare, at this 
duty. Six months afterward, additional clerks were appointed, 
and the report, after further correspondence, was sent in. The 

I 



24 

labor on it was immense, and I have reason to believe the Secre- 
tary of War never looked at it. 

Failing in all other means to bring me into suiEcient odium for 
his purposes, he, on the 2d of July, 1863, without the shadow of 
law, appointed a special commission to examine into the affairs 
of the Medical Department. This commission was composed of 
A. H. Reeder, of Pennsylvania, George 0. Brastow, of Massa- 
chusetts, and Thomas M. Hood, of Wisconsin. All were civilians. 
Reeder was a lawyer, and had been Governor of Kansas ; Bras- 
tow had been a country shopkeeper; Hood's occupation is un- 
known to me. Reeder was the only one I knew, and he was my 
most implacable and unprincipled enemy. The pay of these com- 
missioners was fixed, hy the Secretary of War, without the least 
authority of law, at eight dollars per day and their expenses. 
They continued in session aboiit six months. 

While I was stationed in Kansas in the year 1854, a tract of 
land, settled upon by a family named Dixon, and close to Fort 
Riley, was wanted by Governor A. H. Reeder for his own use. 
To get possession of it was difficult, unless he could get the mili- 
tary reserve extended over it, so as to drive off the Dixons, by 
his influence at Washington get the reserve reduced, and then 
himself take up the tract. The reserve was extended over this 
land by Colonel Montgomery, against the repeated remonstrances 
of General (then captain) Lyon and myself; and, as was gener- 
ally believed, and in fact testified to before the court-martial 
which tried Colonel Montgomery for his misconduct, at the direct 
instigation of Reeder. Colonel Montgomery was dismissed the 
service; Reeder, not long afterward, removed from the Territory. 
The following extract, from a statement of General Lyon, was 
published in the Kansas Territorial Register of November 17th, 
1855. After giving some affidavits relative to the matter, Gen- 
eral Lyon says: — 

" In connection with the above, I deem it proper to state that soon after 
the agreement, and understanding that the reserve would not extend beyond 
Pawnee, Mr. Lowe made a claim, and I surveyed it, with Colonel Mont- 
gomery's full knowledge and consent; and after the Dixons came upon it 
Lowe put a house on it of government materials — which was done to hold 
the claim — and was not removed till after the settlement with Lowe, which 
the Dixons effected by the payment to him of $225, on the express condition 
given by Colonel Montgomery that they should not be disturbed, he having 
threatened to drive them off if they did not settle with Lowe. I heard no- 
thing more of a design to drive off the Dixons, and am sure none was enter- 
tained till the occasion of Governor Reeder's second visit to Fort Riley, 
(about the middle of December, 1854,) when he (Governor Reeder) ex- 
pressed to me and others a strong aversion to their position and occupancy 
of it, and his friends (Johnson, Klotz. and Sherwood) intimated that Pawnee 
would not be the capital unless the Dixons were removed; and the proposi- 
tion first made to me by Sherwood, in the presence of Colonel Montgomery, 
and afterward by Johnson, to buy them off was entertained till it was found 
they would not sell, and on the morning of Governor Reeder's departure 



I 25 

(December thirteenth) the order for the removal of the Dixons was issued, 
and soon after I made the survey of the reserve under verbal directions of 
Colonel Montgomery, who told me that if I went down the river far enough to 
take in the Dixoas it was all he cared for; and T have been told by two re- 
liable persons that he said his object in extending the reserve around Paw- 
nee was to drive off the Dixons — this extension being in violation of the 
promise made to members of the Pawnee Association and to the Dixons. 
The circumstances of the case, and expressions which have transpired in 
connection with this subject, have led me to the full persuasion (in which I 
presume all others are who are acquainted with them) that the project to 
drive off the Dixons was first instigated by Governor Reeder and executed 
by Colonel Montgomery for the purpose of securing the claim for Governor 
Reeder, who I understand entertained no apprehensions but that he could 
get the reserve as ran, modified by Frank Pierce, as he expressed it, when he 
should have occasion for it. * * * * * * * * * 

(Signed) N. LYON." 

Reeder's schemes for self-aggrandizement were defeated mainly 
through the efforts of General Lyon and myself, and he frequently 
expressed his intention of revenging himself on us both. The 
enemy's bullet removed General Lyon from his reach, but Mr. 
Stanton's malice gave him a temporary control over me, and the 
opportunity of doing me an injury. 

In Reeder the Secretary of War found a fitting instrument for 
the work he had in hand. Inimical to me in the highest degree, 
unscrupulous, dishonest, cowardly, and ignorant, no man in the 
country could have served his purpose better. The work was of 
a character which required the actors to be devoid of principle 
and of all considerations of delicacy or propriety. They were 
not only to be the means of removing me from office, but they 
were to rob me of the good name which I had constantly en- 
deavored to keep untarnished by dishonor, and which had never 
been assailed by a single upright and honorable person. 

The examination by this Commission was entirely ex parte. 
I was never called on for an explanation of any kind, and no 
witness was allowed to say anything which could be interpreted 
as favorable to me. I was never present at any session of the 
Gomraission. On the contrary, as soon as they had fairly en- 
tered upon their work, I was ordered to locate myself in the 
Department of the Gulf till further orders. I was therefore re- 
lieved from the charge of the Medical Bureau in Washington, 
and on the 30th of August, 1863, left that city. I have never 
been in charge of the Department since. 

All this was oppressive and illegal, but I made no remonstrance. 
The ostensible cause for my banishment was the necessity for 
looking after the sanitary condition of the troops. I knew this 
was a false reason. The true one was the desire to have me out 
of the way while the examination was going on, and this was 
quickened in its operation by an indorsement which I had a short 
time previously sent to the Secretary. 



26 

A Dr. Bayne had presented to me his appointment as a full 
surgeon of the volunteer staif corps. As this gentleman had not 
complied with the law, Mr. Stanton had exceeded his authority 
in giving him an appointment. I therefore sent the papers back 
to the War Department with this indorsement : — 

" Respectfully referred to the Secretary of War. I am of the opinion that 
this doctor has received, by mistake, an appointment intended for some other 
person. Dr. J. H. Bayne has not been examined, nor is he an assistant sur- 
geon of the corps of surgeons and assistant surgeons of volunteers, both of 
which are made prerequisites for the appointment of surgeon of volunteers 
by the Act of Congress, published in General Orders No. 79, of 1862. I 
therefore respectfully submit these papers for the instructions of the Secre- 
tary of War in the case. 

"W. A. HAMMOND, 

^^ Sargeon-General. 
"Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, ) 
"August 1st, 1863." j 

I heard nothing more of the matter while I remained in charge 
of the bureau. As soon, however, as I had left New York, the 
man was again appointed, and my successor proving more pliable, 
nothing was said. Thus, in direct violation of law, the medical 
corps had to submit to the outrage of having a probably incom- 
petent person thi'ust upon it. Can anything be plainer than this? 
Does it not show that Mr. Stanton's regard for law is only active 
when he has his own private animosity to gratify? This Doctor 
Bayne was his personal friend, and to give him office he violated a 
positive enactment of Congress, designed expressly to prevent the 
entrance of any one into the medical corps unless he had pre- 
viously established his competency before a board of medical 
officers appointed for the purpose by the Surgeon-General. 

As I had long wished to inspect the Medical Department of 
the South and West, I received the order previously mentioned 
with pleasure, so far as the duties of inspecting were concerned. 
I made several reports to the Secretary of War, not one of which 
was acted upon or even acknowledged by him ; and when I had 
completed the examination at New Orleans, I returned to Wash- 
ington. That was my legal station, and he had no right to station 
me in the Department of the Gulf. Mr. Stanton informed me 
on my return that he did not intend to place me in charge of the 
bureau at that time, and, at my request, I was ordered to inspect 
at Chattanooga. The order was, however, coupled with another 
requiring me to remain at Nashville till further orders. On my 
arrival at Louisville, I found the following letter awaiting me: — 

War Department, Washington Citt, 
December 2d, 1863. 
Sir:— 

The Secretary of War has been informed that in September, after you had 
been relieved from the charge of the Surgeon- General's Bureau, you per- 



27 

sonally ordered in Philadelphia a purchase to be made of certain supplies by 
Purveyor Murray. If you did so, after you were relieved from the charge of 
the bureau, the Secretary regards it as a violation of your duty, and he directs 
that in'future you abstain from making any purchases or contracts on behalf 
of the Medical Bureau, or doing anything else but the inspecting duties 
which have been assigned to you. You will not fail to report from Nash- 
ville when you get through with the inspection directed to be made there 
and at Chattanooga, and you will remain in Nashville until you receive 
further orders. 

By order of the Secretary of War. 

(Signed) E. D. TOWNSEND, 

Assistant Adjutant-GenercU. 
BRIGADIER-GENERAL WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

Sargeon-General U. S. Army. 

This was the first order I had ever received from the Secretary 
of War not to make purchases. And the prohibition is apparently 
given solely because I was no longer in charge of the bureau. It 
was the first time also that he had ever placed matters in such a 
form as would admit of any decisive action on my part. I wrote 
immediately as follows : — 

Louisville, Kt., December 6th, 1863. 
Sir :— 

I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of yonr communication of 
the 2d instant, in which it is stated that you have been informed that in 
September last, after I was relieved from the charge of the Medical Bureau, 
I personally ordered the Medical Purveyor in Philadelphia to purchase 
certain supplies. 

The information is partly correct. I did order Surgeon Murray to for- 
ward disinfectants as soon as possible to the Departments of the South and 
Gulf, which I was directed to visit, understanding, of course, that if they 
were not on hand they were to be purchased or prepared by him. Upon 
referring to my first communication, (dated about the 8th of September last,) 
made in obedience to your orders, you will find that this fact is officially 
stated. The first information of my action was therefore given to you by 
myself. Moreover, upon referring to the instructions given me previous to 
my departure, it will be seen that I was ordered to secure the adoption of 
the proper sanitary measures to insure the health of the troops in those de- 
partments. As I knew that the supply of disinfectants was not large, I 
deemed it my duty to provide them. They arrived in New Orleans in time 
to be of the greatest service in purifying the vessels used in the transporta- 
tion of the troops of General Banks' expedition to Brownsville, and which 
at that time were threatened with the infection of yellow fever. 

In regard to being relieved from the charge of the Bureau, my instruc- 
tions were to the effect that, during my absence, and until further orders, I 
was to be relieved from the charge of the Surgeon- General's Bureau in Wash- 
ington. I certainly did not understand that such relief from duty in Wash- 
ington annulled my authority as Surgeon-General, conferred upon me by 
the President and Senate of the United States. I had no reason to think 
so, for I was neither in arrest nor deprived of my commission, nor in former 
instances of my absence was any such construction, to my knowledge, adopted 
by you. I endeavored to act with a view to the best interests of the service, 
as my judgment dictated; am not conscious of having committed any offense 
against military discipline or propriety, and consequently do not admit the 
correctness of your opinion, that 1 have violated my duty. 



28 

Your order, as now communicated, "to abstain from ordering or making 
any purchases or contracts on behalf of the Medical Bureau, or doing any- 
thing else but the inspecting duties which have been assigned to me," and 
the reiteration of the order to remain «t Nashville until further orders, will, 
of course, be obeyed; but as such unusual instructions to the Chief of a 
Bureau of the War Department would seem to imply the existence of charges 
against me, or the belief on your part that I am not capable of the proper 
performance of my ofiBcial duties, I respectfully request, if this supposition 
be correct, that a court of inquiry or a court-martial, as you may deem 
best, may be ordered as soon as possible for my trial. I do not ask this as 
a favor but as a right, due both to me and to the corps over which I am 
placed. 

I have been subjected to the action of an inquisitorial, ex parte, extra- 
official, and prejudiced commission of civilians, presided over by a personal 
enemy whose character is far from being above reproach, and before which 
I have had no hearing. I have, while this so-called investigation was in 
progress, been ordered from my official residence to a distant station. I 
have been relieved from the charge of the Medical Bureau and deprived of 
my rightful authority and powers. I have not remonstrated against treat- 
ment which has appeared to me unjustifiable, simply from a desire to oppose 
no obstacle to the freest examination into my official record. But I should 
lay myself open to the imputation of submission to injustice, and should be 
wanting in self-respect if I continued to preserve silence. I therefore desire 
that my guilt or innocence, my fitness or unfitness may be passed upon by 
the tribunals established by law. I ask only for the privilege usually accorded 
to the vilest criminals — the right to be heard in my own defense. 
I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, ' Surgeon-General. 

Secretary of War. 

To this no answer was ever returned. Having completed ray 
inspection at Chattanooga and reached Nashville, without hearing 
that a court had been ordered, I wrote to the President as follows. 
I saw that I could not look to Mr. Stanton for justice : — 

Nashville, Tenn., December 23d, 1863. 
Sir:— 

I have the honor to ask the attention of your Excellency to the following 
facts : — 

\st. That the Secretary of War has, without sanction of law, convened a 
special commission, composed of civilians, to examine into my acts as Sur- 
geon-General, which commission has not afforded me a hearing either person- 
ally or by witnesses. 

Id. That he Ikis, without bringing me to trial, deprived me of my legal 
authority as Surgeon-General of the Army of the United States. 

3d. That I have been removed from my official residence and ordered to 
Nashville — not on duty, but to await his further orders. 

4</i. That such a course of action on his part is calculated to place me in 
a false position before the country, subjecting me to the suspicion that I 
have committed offenses lyorthy of punishment. 

bth. That I have remonstrated to the Secretary of War against treatment 
which I consider unjust, and have requested him to convene a court of in- 
quiry or court-martial to examine into the truth of any alleged oft'enses on 
my part; but that thus far he has returned no answer to my application. 

In view of these circumstances, I respectfully ask the interference of your 



29 

Excellency, to the effect that I may be immediately restored to my proper 
ofiRcial position, or brought to trial, if any charges of malfeasance or unlitnes3 
are entertained against me. I have no disposition to avoid the severest scru- 
tiny of my official or private record, and I rely with confidence on your Excel- 
lency's character for justice, to see that I am not further subjected to arbitrary 
or oppressive treatment. 

I am, Sir, very respectfully, 

Your Excellencv's obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General. 
His EXCELLENCY the PRESIDENT. 

I also wrote to the Secretary of War for a copy of the report 
of the Reeder commission. No notice was taken of this applica- 
tion, and I have never seen the report to this day. 

In the mean time my friends had not been idle, and applica- 
tions were made by the Sanitary Commission and others for a 
court-martial. Rumors were rife that I was to be removed with- 
out a hearing being given me, and I was desirous of preventing 
such an act. All I asked for was a fair trial. 

On the fifteenth of January I arrived in Washington, in accord- 
ance with permission, granted only after I had received a severe 
fall, by which I was paralyzed for several months, and on the 
seventeenth I was placed in arrest, and ordered to be tried by a 
court-martial, which was to meet on the nineteenth. I received 
the announcement with joy. I was confident that no unpreju- 
diced court would convict me of wrong-doing, in the face of the 
evidence of my innocence which would be presented. 

The charges upon».w]^ch I was tried were as follows : — 

Charge I. — " Disorders and neglect to the prejudice of good order and mil- 
itary discipline." 

Specification 1st — " In this : that he, Brigadier-General William A. Ham- 
mond, Surgeon-General United States Army, wrongfully and unlawfully 
contracted for, and ordered Christopher C- Cox, as Acting Purveyor in 
Baltimore, to receive blankets of one Wm. A. Stephens, of New York. This 
done, at Washington City, on the 17th day of July, in the year of our 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two." 

Specification 2d — "In this: that he, Brigadier-General William A. Ham- 
mond, Surgeon-General, as aforesaid, did, on the first day of May, in the 
year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, at Wash- 
ington City, wrongfully and unlawfully, and ivith intent to favor private 
persons,*resident in Philadelphia, prohibit Christopher C. Cox, as Medi- 
cal Purveyor for the United States, in Baltimore, from purchasing drugs 
for the army in said City of Baltimore." 

Specification 3d — " In this : that he, the said Brigadier-General William A. 
Hammond, Surgeon-General United States Army, did unlawfully order 
and cause one George E. Cooper, then Medical Purveyor for the United 
States, in the City of Philadelphia, to buy of one William A. Stephens, 
blankets for the use of the Government service of inferior quality, he, the 
said Brigadier-General William A. Hammond, then well knowing that the 
blankets so ordered by him to be purchased, as aforesaid, were inferior in 



30 

quality, and that said Purveyor Cooper had refused to buy the same of 
said Stevens. This done at Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsj'lvania, on 
the twenty-eig'hth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
hundred and sixty-two." 

Sperification 4th—'" In this : that he, the said Bripadier-General WiUinm A. 
Hammond, Surgeon-General, as aforesaid, on the fourteenth day of June, 
in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, at the 
City of Washington, in the District of Columbia, unlawfully, and with in- 
tent to aid one William A. Stephens to defraud the Government of the 
United States, did. in writing, instruct George E. Cooper, then Medical 
Purveyor at Philadelphia, in substance as follows : — 

^ Sir: You will purchase of Mr. W. A. Stephens, eight thousand pair of 
blankets, of which the inclosed card is a sample. Mr. Stephens' address is 
box 2500, New York. The blankets are five dollars per pair.' 

And ivJiich hlanliets so ordered were xmjxt for hosjntal use." 

Specification .5th. — "In this: that he, the said Brigadier-General }Yilliam 
A. Hammond, Surgeon-General United States Army, on the sixteenth 
day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty- 
two, at the City of Washington, did corruptly, and with intent to aid one 
William A. Stephens to defraud the Government of the United States, 
give to the said William A. Stephens, an order, in writing, in substance 
as follows: 'Turn over to George E. Cooper, Medical Purveyor at Phil- 
adelphia, eight thousand pair of blankets,' by means whereof the said Ste- 
phens induced said Cooper, on Government account, and at an exorbitant 
price, to receive of said blankets, which he had before refused to buy, 
seventy-six hundred and seventy-seven pair, and for which the said Stephens 
received payment at Washington, in the sum of about thirty-five thousand 
three hundred and fourteen dollars and twenty cents.; 

Specification 6th — "In this: that he, the said Brigadier-General William 
A. Hammond. Surgeon General United States Army, on the thirty-first 
day of July, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two, at 
the City of Philadelphia, in the Stiite of Pennsylvania, well knowing that 
John Wyeth and Brother had before that furnished medical supplies to 
the Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia, which were inferior in quality, defi- 
cient in quantity, and excessive in price, did corruptly, unlawfully, and 
with intent to aid ttie said John Wyeth and Brother to furnish additional 
large supplies to the Government of the United States, and thereby fraud- 
ulently to realize large gains thereon : then and there gave to George E. 
Cooper, then Medical Purveyor at Philadelphia, an order, in writing, in 
substance as follows: 'You will at once till up your storehouses, so as 
to have constantly on hand hospital supplies of all kinds for two hundred 
thousand men for six months. This supply I desire that you will not use 
without orders from me.' And then and there directed said Purveyor to 
purchase a large amount thereof, to the value of about one hundred and 
seventy-three thousand dollars, of said John Wyeth and Brother." 

Specification 7th — " In this : that he, the said Brigadier-General William 
A. Hammond, Surgeon-General United States Army, about the eighth 
day of October, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two, 
at Washington City, in contempt of and contrary to the provisions of the 
act, entitled 'An act to reorganize and mcrease the efficiency of the Medi- 
cal Department of the Army,' approved April 16, 1862, did corruptly and 
unlawtuUy direct Wyeth and Brother, of Philadelphia, to send forty thou- 
sand cans of their ' Extract of Beef to various places, to wit : Cincinnati, 
St. Louis, Cairo, New York, and Baltimore, and send the account to the 
Surgeon-General's Office, for payment, and which Extract of Beef so or- 



31 

dered was of inferior quality, unfit for hospital use, unsuitable and un- 
•wholcsome for the sick and wounded in hospitals, and not demanded by 
the exigencies of the public service." 

Spedfication 8th — "In this: that he, the said Brigadier- General William 
A. Hammond, Surgeon-General United States Army, about the first day 
of March, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-three, at 
Washington City, in disregard of his duty, of the interests of the public 
service, and of the requirements of the act, entitled An act to reorganize 
and increase the efficitncy of the Medical Department of the Army,' ap- 
proved April 16, 18(32, did order and direct that the Medical Inspectors 
should report the result of their inspections direct to the Surgeon- General.'" 

Charge II. — " Conduct unbecoming an oflBcer and a gentleman." 
Specification 1st — " In this : that he, Brigadier-General William- A. Ham- 
mond, Surgeon -General United States Army, on the thirteenth day of 
October, in the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty-two, at Wash- 
ington City, in a letter by him then and there addressed to Dr. George E. 
Cooper, declared in substance, that the said Cooper had been relieved as 
Medical Purveyor in Philadelphia, because, among other reasons, ' Hal- 
leck,' meaning Major-General Henry W. Halleck, General-in-Chief, re- 
quested, as a particular favor, that Murray might be ordered to Philadel- 
phia, which declaration so made by him, the said Brigadier-General 
William A. Hammond, Surgeon-General, as aforesaid, was false." 

Charge III. — " Conduct to the prejudice of good order and military dis- 
cipline." 

• Specification 1st — "In this: that he, the said Brigadier- General William 
A. Hammond, Surgeon-General United States Army, on the eighth day 
of November, A. D. 1862, at Washington City, did unlawfully and cor- 
ruptly order and cause Henry Johnson, then Medical Storekeeper and Act- 
ing Purveyor, at Washington City, to purchase three thousand blankets 
of one J. P. Fisher, at the price of $5 90 per pair, and to be delivered to 
Surgeon G. E. Cooper, United States Army, Medical Purveyor at Phila- 
delphia." 

Specification 2d — "In this: that he, the said Brigadier- General William 
A. Hammond, about the third day of December, A.D. 1862, at Washing- 
ton City, unlawfully purchased and caused to he purchased, of J. U. 
McGuire ^ Co., large quantities of blankets and bedsteads, and which 
were not needed for the service." 

The words printed in italics were those of which I was found 
"Not guilty." 

Upon examining the specifications, it will be seen that they can 
be classified under three heads: — 

\st. Those which allege acts on my part which were in excess 
of my legal authority. 

2d. Those which distinctly charge personal corruption and 
intent to aid others to defraud the Government. 

M. Willful falsehood. 

I have always admitted that I ordered Dr. Cox to purchase 
blankets of W. A. Stephens. 

That I disapproved of his making purchases in Baltimore. 

That I directed Dr. Cooper to purchase 8000 pairs of blankets 
of W. A. Stephens, as stated in the 4th specification. 



32 

That I ordered Wyeth & Brother to send 40,000 cans of extract 
of beef to the places designated in the 7th specification. 

That I ordered the Medical Inspectors to send their reports 
direct to me, as alleged in the 8th specification. 

That I wrote to Dr. Cooper that General Halleck had requested 
me to order Murray to Philadelphia, as specified in the specifica- 
tion of the 2d charge. 

That I ordered Medical Storekeeper Johnson to purchase three 
thousand pairs of blankets of T. J. Fisher. (There is no such 
person as J. P. Fisher in existence to my knowledge.) 

I deny explicitly that those acts were done with any evil in- 
tent, or that they were unlawful. On the contrary, I contend 
that they were highly proper and within the strict line of my duty. 
I deny also that what I stated in regard to General Halleck was 
false. 

And I affirm with equal positiveness, that it is false that I 
ordered Dr. Cooper to purchase blankets of W. A. Stephens, as 
set forth in the 3d specification of the 1st charge. 

That it is false that I gave any such order to Stephens, as is 
alleged in the 5th specification. 

That it is false that I ordered Cooper to purchase any supplies 
from Wyeth & Brother, as charged in the 6th specification; and 

That it is false that I ordered purchases to be made of J. C. 
McGuire & Co., as set forth in the 2d specification of the 3d 
charge. 

The findings of the court were as follows : — , 

Charge I. 

Of the 1st specification, " Guilty." 

Of the 2d specification, " Guilty," and that the offense therein charged 
•was committed on the 30th day of May, a.d. 1863, except as to the words 
"with intent to favor private persons resident in Philadelphia;" and as to 
which words so excepted, "Not guilty." 

Of the 3d specification, " Guilty." 

Of t\iQ Ath specification, "Guilty," except as to the words "and which 
blankets so ordered were unfit for hospital use;" and as to which words so 
excepted, " Not guilty." 

Of the bth specification, " Guilty." 

Of the 6i/i specification, " Guilty." 

Of the Itli specification, " Guilty," except as to the words " corruptly and," 
"and which extract of beef so ordered was of inferior quality, unfit for hospi- 
tal use, unsuitable, and unwholesome for the sick and wounded in hospitals, 
and not demanded by the exigencies of the public service ;" and of the words 
so excepted, " Not guilty." 

Of the 8th specification, " Not guilty." 

Of the 1st Charge, "Guilty." 

Charge II. 

Of the 1st specification, " Guilty." 
Of the 2d Charge, " Guilty." 



33 

Charge III. 

Of the 1st specification, "Guilty," except as to the words "and corruptly," 
"and caused;" and as to which words so excepted, "Not guilty." 
Of the 2d specification, "Not guilty." 
Of the 3d Charge, " Guilty." 

The 1st specification which alleges that I wrongfully and un- 
lawfully contracted for, and ordered C. C. Cox, as Acting Pur- 
veyor in Baltimore, to receive blankets of one William A. Stephens, 
of New York; and the 2d, that I prohibited him purchasing in 
Baltimore, will serve as types of the others, which simply charge 
illegal acts — and are even better than several of them, because I 
admit the fact of said orders. . 

When I entered upon the duties of Surgeon- General I found 
it had been the custom of the Surgeon-General not only to direct, 
when he chose, of whom the Purveyors should make their pur- 
chases, but even to make them himself. The court refused to 
receive any testimony on this head; but I adduce it here as 
tending to show the usages of the service prior to my appoint- 
ment. The following letters, which I extract from a number, are 
clear and distinct as to this point : — 

Sukoeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
February 5th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

You -will please direct the Medical Purveyor of the Department of West- 
ern Virginia to make all his requisiiions on General Henry Wilson, whole- 
sale druggist, Columbus, Ohio. The special requisitions will, after being 
approved by the Medical Director, be sent directly to him ; the general requi- 
sition as usual through this office. Liquors and instruments are not included 
in these instructions. Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 
(Signed) C. A. FINLEY, 

Surgeon-General. 
ASSISTANT SURGEON JONA. LETTERMAN, 

Medical Director, Dept. West. Va., Wheeling. 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
February 19th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

I have directed Samuel N. Pike, of Cincinnati, to forward to you 300 boxes 
of whisky, for which you will forward receipts to this office. 
Respectfully, your obedt. servt., 

C. A. FINLEY, 

Surgeon- General. 
ASSISTANT SURGEON WM. A. HAMMOND, U. S. A , 

Medical Purveyor, Wheeling, Va. 

Duplicates of this letter were sent to several other surgeons. 
I had made no requisition for whisky, and was in no want of it. 



34 

Surgeon-General's Office. Washington City, D. C, 
March 14th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

The Surgeon-General instructs me to inclose to you the within schedule 
of bedding and liquors, which he wishes you to have sent as soon as practi- 
cable to Surgeon J. M. Cuyler, at Fortress Monroe, Va. The Surgeon-Gen- 
eral also wishes you to make an estimate of the amount of adhesive plaster 
you may shortly need, so as to order it of Mr. Chas. Shivers, of Philadelphia. 
1 have the honor to be, 
By order. Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., 

(Signed) L. A. EDWARDS, 

SURGEON C. H. LAUB, Surgeon U. S. Army. 

Medical Purveyor, Washington, D. C. 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
ilarch 14lh, 1862. 
Sir :— 

I inclose a requisition of Surgeon Chas. H. Laub, U. S. Army Medical 
Purveyor in this city, for five hundred yards of your adhesive plaster, in 
cases of five yards each. Send it on as soon as practicable. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt.. 
By order. (Signed) L. A. EDWARDS, 

Surgeon U. S. Army. 
Mr. chas. shivers. Apothecary, 

Corner Seventh and Spruce Streets, Philadelphia. 

Such was the usage before ray appointment. The language of 
the law under which I came into office is, "that the Medical Pur- 
veyors shall be charged, under the direction of the Surgeon-G-en- 
eral, with the selection and purchase of all medical supplies." 
These words were certainly intended by Congress to give power 
to Purveyors which they did not possess before, when medical 
supplies were often purchased by officers of the Quartermaster's 
Department and others. They take no power from the Surgeon- 
General. They do not say that he shall not purchase or direct 
purchases. I gave this construction to the act, and in a commu- 
nication made to the Secretary of War stated it as follows: — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, 

August 25th, 1862. 

Sir:— 

******* 

"Neither do I see any good reason why the Medical Department should 
not be charged as well with the construction of dispensing wagons as with 
the manufacture of medicine chests, litters, stretchers, mess chests, and other 
hospital appliances which now form important items in the expenditures of 
the Medical and Hospital Department. The division of labor does not work 
efficiently, and evidently was not contemplated. Section 5th of the act ap- 
proved April 16th, 1862, expressly provides 'that Medical Purveyors shall 
be charged, under the direction of the Surgeon-General, with the selection 
and purchase of all medical supplies, including new standard preparations, 
and of all books, instruments, hospital stores, furniture, and other articles 
required for the sick and wounded of the army.' " 



35 

The Secretary of War knew perfectly well that I directed pur- 
chases to be made of particular persons, and he also knew that I 
made purchases myself. He knew this from the first; and in an 
official letter written to him from my office over seven months 
before my court was ordered, this fact is stated to him in direct 
terms. It is in answer to one from him relative to the amount of 
liquor which had been purchased in the previous ninety days, and 
by whom: — 

SnKaEON-GBNERAL's Office, Washington, D. C, 
June 5th, 1863. 
Sir:— 

***** «j^Q Q^g person makes the purchases of liquors for the 
Medical Department, which are made at different points throughout the 
country by the Medical Purveyors, or hy orders direct from this office to 
the dealers. 

Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., 

J. R. SMITH, 
Hon. E. M. STANTON, Acting Surgeon-General. 

Secretary of War. 

Now, if I was violating the law, was it not the bounden duty of 
the Secretary of War to stop me? Why did he allow me to go 
on and order purchases after he was thus officially informed of 
my action? Simply because he did not regard my conduct as 
being in opposition to law; and the best proof of this is that my 
successor was allowed by him to continue to construe the act of 
Congress as I had construed it. It was only when he was in 
search of offenses to impute to me that he hit upon the idea of 
limiting the power of the Surgeon-General, and of taking the 
ground that the latter should not say of whom or where purchases 
should or should not be made. The following letters will show 
that, up to the 13th of January, 1864, only three days before I 
was placed in arrest, and certainly several days after the charges 
against me were prepared, the course which I had adopted was 
continued: — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
December 27th, 1863. 
Sir :— 

la reply to your communication of the 24th instant, I am directed to inform 
you that the medicine wagons required by Surgeon Fletcher have been 
ordered from Medical Storekeeper Rittenhouse. 

The Acting Surgeon-General desires that those of Dunton's pattern, now 
in your hands, be filled at the U. S. Laboratory, and s^t to Medical Store- 
keeper Rittenhouse, when required for issue. He directs that no more he 
purchased either from Dunton or Perot ^ Co. 
By order of the Acting Surgeon-General. 

Yery respectfully, your obedt. servt., 

C. H. CRANE, 

Surgeon U. S. Army. 
SURGEON A. MURRAY, U. S. A., 

Medical Purveyor, Philadelphia. 

3 



36 

Surgeon-General's Office, WAsniNOTON City, D. C, 
January 13th, 1864. 
HENRY JOHNSON, 

Medical Storekeeper, U. S. A., Washington. 
Sib : — 

• I am instructed to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 11th 
instant, inclosing special requisitions for medical and hospital supplies, and 
to inform you that they have been approved and sent to the Medical Pur- 
veyor at Philadelphia for issue, with the exception of the 2U00 bottles of ink, 
(2-oz. bottles,) vhich you will purchase in this city. 
By order of the Acting Surgeon-General. 

Very respectfully, your obedt. servt., 

W. C. SPENCER, 

Assistant Surgeon U. S. Army. 

Now, if it be alleged that the law did not prohibit my prede- 
cessor from giving specific directions as to where and of whom 
purchases should be made, but that the present law does, I ask 
why such a construction was not enforced by the Secretary of 
War on my successor? Is it not perfectly plain that he never 
really believed I had violated law, but made use of my acts solely 
as a subterfuge, to enable him to destroy me? 

The original order to Dr. Cox not to make purchases was given 
by my predecessor. It was reiterated by me December 1st, 1862, 
as follows: — 

Sukgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
December 1st, 18G2. 
SURGEON C. C. COX, U. S. Vols., 

Medical Purveyor, Baltimore, Md. 
Sir :— 

Your communication of the twenty-first of November, asking instructions 
in regard to issue of certain books marked in italics in the supply table, haa 
been received. In reply, I am instructed to inform you that paragraph 10 
of the supply table will be strictly adhered to, and requisitions for the articles 
referred to should be sent to this office for approval. I am also instructed 
to say that the purchase of Worcester's Dictionary, McLeod's Surgery, and 
the books of that class was unauthorized, and will not be observed. The 
Surgeon-General directs you not to make any more purchases unless under 
special instructions from this office. 
By order of the Surgeon-General. 

Very respectfully, 

C. H. ALDEN, 

Assistant Surgeon U. S. Army. 

On the 30th of May, 1863, the following letter was written to 
Dr. Cox :— 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
May 30th, 1863. 
Doctor : — 

The Surgeon-General directs me to inform you that, in view of the high 
prices charged in Baltimore for articles furnished the Medical Department, 
and in consideration of the fact that Baltimore aflbrds but a poor market iu 



37 

comparison with New York and Philadelphia, that no more purchases be 
made by you in that city, without special instructions from this office. 

Very respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

E. S. DUNSTER, 
Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. 
SURGEON C. C. COX, U. S. Vols., 

Medical Purveyor, Baltimore, Md. 

This letter was written because one of the chief clerks in the 
office brought Dr. Cox's bill to me and complained of the high 
prices charged. Dr. J. R. Smith, U. S. Army, who was at the 
time my chief assistant, swore before the court that the prices of 
some of the drugs were to his knowledge higher in Baltimore than 
in the cities above mentioned ; and such is the case with most of 
the articles. 

But this prohibition was continued after I was relieved from 
the charge of the bureau, and Dr. Cox, still desirous of being 
allowed to purchase, was replied to as follows by order of Dr. 
Barnes: — / 

Surgeon-Geneeal's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
September 18th, 1863. 
Sir:— 

The Acting Surgeon-General instructs me, in reply to your communica- 
tion of the 17th instant, asking permission to purchase ceratum adipis, etc., 
the receipt of which is acknowledged, to state that the cerate and alcohol 
have been ordered to be sent to you from Philadelphia, and that Surgeon 
R. Murray, U. S. Army, has probably sent the articles in question, or made 
his arrangements to do so ; and that therefore it is deemed advisable not to 
have them purchased in Baltimore. The chairs you are authorized to pur- 
chase. 

By order of the [Acting ?] Surgeon-General. 
Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

E. T. WHITTINGHAM, 

Assistant Surgeon U.S. A. 
SURGEON C. C. COX. U. S. Vols., 

Medical Purveyor, Baltimore, Md. 

And again : — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
September 26th, 1863. 
Sir:— 

Your requisition of the 25th instant, asking for spirit frumenti, [whisky,] 
etc., is approved, with the exception of the brandy, which is no longer 
issued. Your suggestion with reference to having the above articles issued 
in kegs, demijohns, and cans, is not approved. 

The supplies will be issued and forivarded to you from New York City. 
By order of the [Acting?] Surgeon-General. 

Very respectfully, etc., 

E. T. WHITTINGHAM, 

Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. 
SURGEON C. C. COX, U. S. Vols., 

Medical Purveyor, Baltimore, Md. 



38 

These letters were rejected as evidence by the court-martial; 
and the court also refused to allow me to prove that my predeces- 
sor had given like orders; although they show conclusively that 
even after my relief from duty, which was on the 30th of August, 
1863, the Secretary of War had not construed the law as he 
directed it to be construed by the prosecution in my case. 

Even this is not all, for, in the fall of 1862, he gave me verbal 
orders to prohibit all purchases in Philadelphia. This was done 
with the effect of causing a great deal of ill feeling, as a reference 
to the newspapers of that period will make manifest. Nothing 
was allowed to be bought there without his special order, as the 
following indorsement on a requisition for hay for packing, iron 
wire, chairs, and tables will show : — 

BespectfuUy referred to the Secretary of War, with the request that au- 
thority may be given to make these purchases and such minor ones as may 
be absolutely necessary. 

Surgeon-General's Office, I 
November 25, 18()2. / 
Approved. WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

E. M. STANTON, Surgeon-General 

Secretary of War. 

Thus it is seen that, six months before my order to Dr. Cox, 
Mr. Stanton had given similar orders as regarded Philadelphia! 

And now, was my order to Dr. Cox justifiable? 

It was known that the prices of some articles at least were 
higher in Baltimore than at New York or Philadelphia. 

I quote from the record, page lOi. Dr. Cox, a witness for the 
prosecution, is on cross-examination: — 

"Question. Are there any chemical manufactories in Baltimore at which 
the more important articles, such as quinine, morphia, acids, chloroform, 
ether, etc., are made ? 

"Anstver. There are none in which they are manufactured to any extent. 
There are chemists of sufficient character to manufacture all these things, 
druggists who are chemists ; but they are not manufactured there to any ex- 
tent that I am aware of. 

"Q. From whom had you made your largest purchases of drugs previous 
to my order of May 30th, 1863 ? 

"A. The largest purchases of drugs were made of Leary & Co. 

"Q. Did you not at times find it difficult to obtain all the medicines you 
required in Baltimore, and did not the dealers have to send elsewhere for 
them ? 

"A. The great bulk of medicines I could get in Baltimore ; but the fine 
preparations of medicines had to be sent to Philadelphia for. 

"Q. Was my order of the 30th of May the first order you received not to 
purchase in Baltimore ? 

"A. It was not." 

The attempt was then made to show that my predecessor gave 
similar orders, which the Judge Advocate objected to, and the 
court sustained his objection. 



39 

After arguments and other questions, the record is as follows: — 

"(). Do yon or do you not know that Government laboratories had been 
established at New York and Philadelphia, prior to my order of May 30th, 
3863, and subsequent to my appointment as Surgeon-General, at which the 
greater quantity of medicines issued to the army were manufactured ? 

"A. I know there were laboratories in those cities under the direction of 
the Surgeon-General, but I cannot say when they were opened, whether be- 
fore or after that period. 

"Q Yon have stated that some articles were higher and some lower in 
Baltimore than in New York or Philadelphia. What articles were lower? 

"A. I cannot answer that question without referring to papers. 

"Q. Were you not authorized, subsequent to my order of May 30th, to 
purchase many articles in Baltimore which it was thought could be obtained 
there to advantage? 

"A. Yes, sir." 

And then, in reference to permanganate of potash, the best 
known disinfectant and deodorizer, which it was alleged by the 
Judge Advocate I had, in violation of my duty, directed to be sent 
to Dr. Cox from Philadelphia: — 

"Q. Is permanganate of potash manufactured in Baltimore, and could you 
have obtained it there ? 

"A. It is not manufactured there to any extent that I am aware of. 

"Q. Is it manufactured there at all? 

"A. I am not aware that it is. 

"Q. Was it not required for use at the battle-field of Gettysburg? 

"A. It was, sir. 

"Q. Is it or is it not a highly useful article in medical supplies ? 

"A. A very valuable article, sir." 

In reference to the fact of which Dr. Cox appears to be igno- 
rant, but which, of course, I, from«}Hiy position as head of the 
corps, was fully aware of, that before the thirtieth of May, the 
laboratory at Philadelphia was in operation, the testimony of 
Prof. Maisch, the chief chemist of that institution, is adduced. 

At page 1678 of the record: — 

"Q. Can you state at what time the laboratory you have spoken of as 
having been established in Philadelphia went into operation? 

"A. We commenced operations, and by this I mean we commenced the 
preparation of pharmaceutical preparations and chemical preparations, in 
the middle of April, 1863." 

And at page 1674 : — 

"Q. When were you prepared to deliver the articles manufactured by you 
at the laboratory? 

"The Judge Advocate objected to the question as irrelevant. 

" The court was cleared tor deliberation. 

"The court was opened. 

"The Judge Advocate announced that the court overruled the objection. 

"A. We were prepared to deliver such articles as were manufactured 
about the first week in May, 1863." 



40 

Here, then, were the reasons whicli induced rae, on the thirtieth 
of May, to prohibit Dr. Cox purchasing in Baltimore without 
special authority from my office: — 

1st. The high prices. 

2d. The insufficiency of the market., 

8d. The fact that the laboratory of the Medical Department 
in Philadelphia was in full operation, and competent to supply 
the drugs needed. 

And now in reference to the justification for the order set forth 
in the first specification to purchase blankets of W. A. Stephens. 

On the 10th of July, 1862, the following letter was written to 
Dr. Cox by my order : — 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
July 10th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

I am instructed by the Surgeon-General to direct you to purchase 5000 
blankets from Mr. W. A. Stephens, No. 116 Nassau Street, New York. 
The blankets to be according to samples sent by him to this office. 
By order. 

Very respectfully, 
/ Your obedt. servt., 

J. E. SMITH, 

Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. 
BRIG. SURGEON C. C. COX, 

Medical Purveyor, Baltimore, Md. 

On the seventeenth the inquiry was made of him why he had 
not obeyed the order. On the nineteenth he replied that he had 
obeyed it on the fourteenth, being before absent from Baltimore. 

Dr. Cox testified as follows for the prosecution, (p. 39): — 

"Q. [By Judge Advocate.] State whether you had, previous to this letter 
of July tenth, any knowledge of Wm. A. Stephens. 

"^. None at all. 

"Q Had you had any communication with him before that time? 

"A. None whatever. 

"§. I will repeat. State whether in any way, either by telegraph, by 
written correspondence, or by oral conimunication, you had any communica- 
tion with VV. A. Stephens previous to the telegram from the Surgeon-General 
to which he refers in the letter of the tenth of July." 

(I will here state that no reference is made in my letter of the 
tenth of July to any telegram. In my letter of the seventeenth 
it is mentioned that a telegram had been sent to Dr. Cox on the 
tenth, but as no such telegram is of record, and Dr. Cox could 
not swear that he ever had received such, it is clearly a mistake 
for letter of the tenth.) 

"A. No, sir; none. 

"Q. Had you any personal knowledge of the man at all? 

'*A. None at all." 



41 

One would think, from this examination, that the Judge Advo- 
cate had succeeded in proving, beyond all doubt, that Dr. Cox 
knew nothing of Stephens prior to the 10th of July, 1862; had 
never corresponded with him in any way; had never even heard 
that there was such a man. Alas! for the fallibility of human 
evidence! A letter from Mr. Stephens to Dr. Cox is produced 
by the latter, dated the 10th of July, 1862, in which the writer 
says : — 

"On the third, in Philadelphia, I received your telegram to supply you 
with 5000 blankets, and immediately forwarded the order to my agent, and 
on the fourth I received another countermanding the order." 

In reference to this, the Judge Advocate further questions Dr. 
Cox, (p. 40):— 

"Q. You have stated in your letter, which has been given in evidence, 
that you addressed W. A. Stephens on the fourteenth instant; look at this 
letter of July eleventh, produced by you, and state whether there was any 
further communication between you and him before that. I ask for your 
own knowledge. 

'^A. Yes, I must have telegraphed him. 

"Q Do you keep a record of your telegrams in your books? 

"A. We generally do. 1 do not find that telegram. I recollect having 
telegraphed to him. 

"§ Do you recollect having telegraphed to this man before July 10th, 
1862? 

"A. I am distinct in my recollection of having telegraphed him previous 
to the letter of July tenth. 

"<3- Slate how you came to telegraph him previous to the letter of the 
tenth. How did you know who he was or where he was previous to July 
10th, 1862, if you did not know the man? 

"A. I only telegraphed upon information of his locality in Philadelphia. 
I cannot speak definitely in regard to that. I am rather under the impres- 
sion that 1 perhaps received an oral direction from the Surgeon- General in 
Baltimore or elsewhere, to send for those blankets. I cannot speak posi- 
tively on that sabject. I am very distinct in my recollection of having tele- 
graphed to Stephens prior to the tenth, and subsequently telegraphed to 
him, probably the next day, not to send them just at that time." 

Now, here we have Dr. Cox swearing first, in the most positive 
manner, that he knew nothing of Stephens prior to July tenth, 
and then being "very distinct" in his recollection of having sent 
him two telegrams before that period! And yet on page 1139 of 
the record, when he is recalled by the Judge Advocate to prove 
that Stephens had alluded to a telegram of the 3d of July, 1862, 
which Dr. Cox had never sent, the latter says : — 

"There are other circumstances to which I would like to allude in that 
connection. I had no communication with the Surgeon- General previous 
to the fourth of July. I am perfectly satisfied that I did not telegraph 
Stephens on the third. That is my best recollection and behef." 



42 

At page 1136 Dr. Cox, in answer to a question of the Judge 
Advocate, admits that on the fourth of July he telegraphed Mr. 
Stephens as follows : — 

" If the blankets have not been procured, do not send them ; we are sup- 
plied." 

Who ordered the blankets which were not to be forwarded ? 
The Judge Advocate would like to have it inferred that I did, 
for Dr. Cox, in opposition to his previous evidence, swears he did 
not. 

Fortunately we can have no doubt on that point, for we have 
the telegram sent by Dr. Cox to Mr. Stephens on the 3d of July, 
1862, as furnished to Dr. Cox by the telegraph operator. On 
page 2167 of the record it is stated as follows : — 

" Surgeon C. 0. Cox was recalled by the accused, and testified further as 
follows : — 

'■Q. State whether or not, since you were on the stand before, you have 
made search for a telegram from your office to Wm. A. Stephens, of July 3d, 
1862, and whether you have found it, and if so, please to produce it. 

"^. Since I was last on the stand 1 have made search for the original 
telegram in the office, and did not succeed in finding it. 

"Q. State whether you have any copy of such telegram. 

"A. Prior to that 1 telegraphed to my clerk in Baltimore to have the office 
searched, and he took coj)ies of telegrams then in the office, of the third and 
fourth (f July, which copies I have with me. Since then, upon application 
for the original telegram, it was not to be found in the office ; but the copies 
I have. 

"Q. Is the original telegram of the third in existence, to your know^ledge? 

*'^. Not to my knowledge. I never saw it. 

"Q. Please to produce the copy of the telegram of the third. 

"A. That was taken from the copy; it is a duplicate of the copy in my 
office." 

The witness here produces the telegram : — 

"Baltimore, July 3d, 1862. 
"To Mr. STEVENS, 1120 Girard St. 

'•Care of Mr. BONSALL, Philadelphia. 
"Send on immediately to this Department five thousand (5000) blankets, 
and charge 

"CHRIS. 0. COX, 

"Surg. U. S., Med. Purveyor." 

On the back of the paper is this certificate: — 

"Washington, March 4th. 
"I certify the telegram on this sheet to be a copy of the original message 
sent from Baltimore to Philadelphia, as repeated to this office. 

"WM. H. ( LARKE, 

"Telegraph Operator" 

This certificate is crossed out by three diagonal lines. 



43 

The Judge Advocate objected to the admission of this telegram 
as evidence, and the court sustained his objection ! 

At page 1583 of the record will be found the following. Mr. 
W. A. Stephens, a witness for the defense, is under examination : — 

"Q. Do you recollect any sale of blankets made by you to Dr. Cox in 
July, 1862? 

"^. I do. 

'^Q. State whether you received a telegram from Dr. Cox July third. 

"A. 1 did receive a telegram from Dr. Cox on the afternoon of the third 
of July, about five o'clock. 

"Q. Have you that telegram, or a copy of it here ? If so, please produce it. 

"A. I have it here." 

[The witness here produced a copy of the telegram as obtained by him 
from the Baltimore office, where it is on record. The original, received 
by him, had been sent to his agent in New York, and was not to be found.] 

No reasonable person can doubt that Dr. Cox ordered 5000 
blankets from Mr. Stephens, by telegraph, on July third. The 
matter is of record both in the Baltimore and Philadelphia offices. 
Why, however, it may be asked, could not the original message, 
as written by Dr. Cox, be produced ? To this I would answer, 
that diligent search was made by the defense for the original, and 
it was ascertained that all the original telegraphic messages of 
that date had been sent to the War Department. It was asked, 
that search might be made at the War Department, and it was 
answered that no such telegram could be found. As appears from 
the evidence of Surgeon Cox, (page 2176 of the record,) the original 
of this telegram of the 8d of July, 1862, was in tne telegraph 
office at Baltimore on the 3d of March, 1864. He answers to a 
question of the accused as follows: — 

"Q. State at what time it was that your clerk made the former search and 
found both the telegrams of the 3d and 4th there. 

''A. You have a telegram here from my clerk on your record. If I can 
look at that it will refresh my memory as to time. [The telegram on page 
1137 of the record is here submitted to the witness.] 

" That is dated March 3d. I telegraphed about that time from here to my 
clerk to have the search made for these papers, and he returned me in an- 
swer the telegram which is on page 1137. When I returned to Baltimore, 
I was informed that the other telegram had been found, and they had taken 
a copy of it from the office." 

And at page 2178: — 

"Q. Can you bring to the court the copy of the original telegram, which 
I understand you to say cannot now be found, the copy of the original tele- 
gram July 3d, from which the paper you have handed the court this morning 
was made ? 

"A. I can ; it ts in my office; it is identical with that duplicate." 

Some one, then, between the third of March and the eighteenth 
of April, had taken the original telegram from the office of the 



44 

company, and the following letter of Mr. Mattingly, Manager of 
the American Telegraph Company's Office in Baltimore, explains 
the whole matter: — 

Baltimore, July 29th, 1864. 

W. A. STEPHENS, Esq. 
Dear Sir : — 

When you called from Washington for a copy of the telegram referred to, 
we did not at the time notice that the copy we had was not the original. We 
sent you a copy of the message we had on our files, which was a copy from 
the original as received from the telegraph office at headquarters. When I 
was called upon by the court to come to Washington and bring with me the 
original message, I discovered that we did not have it, and that it had never 
been in this office, but that it had been received by telegraph from the office 
at headquarters and forwarded from here. When I found this to be the case, 
I went to the above office, and there learned that all the original telegrams 
had been forwarded to Washington. I then went to Washington and made 
application for it, and was informed by Major J. J. Eckert, that all messages 
of that' and previous dates had been destroyed. The above statement I made 
to the court, and now make it to you. The certificate was made at the dic- 
tation of Dr. Cox. Respectfully yours, 

(Signed) J. F. MATTINGLY. 

Thus, it is seen that, through the action of those in authority, 
an important link in my chain of evidence was destroyed; and 
through the decision of the court, I was not allowed to prove that 
the blankets specified had been ordered by Dr. Cox seven days 
before I directed him to receive them. 

At page 2170, the record reads as follows. Dr. Cox is under 
examination for the defense : — 

"Q. Do you remember having made examination and search in the City 
of Baltimore, about the 2d of July, 1862, for blankets to be sent to Fortress 
Monroe ? 

"A. I remember having made search in Baltimore for blankets, for a 
quantity of blankets, and not being able to find them ; and my impression is 
they were to be sent to Fortress Monroe, but I cannot speak distinctly ; / 
have no order on file about them. 

"Q. Do you recollect whether you procured them, or oflTered to procure 
them, outside of the City of Baltimore? 

"A. I did. 

"Q. What did you do? 

"Jl. I sent an agent to New York, and other cities, for the purpose of get- 
ting the blankets. 

"Q. Do you recollect whether you telegraphed to the Surgeon-General ia 
connection with that matter ? 

"A. I have no distinct recollection of any of these things; I presume that 
telegram came from me, because it recites facts which did occur." 

The following telegram is then offered and accepted as evi- 
dence : — 

Received, Jidy 2d, 1862, from Baltimore : 5.05 p.m. 
To SURGEON-GENERAL HAMMOND. 

I have been through the city and can get no more blankets here. Have 
dispatched an agent to New York, who will have several thousand here in 



45 

time for to-morrow nifrlit's boat. Such mattresses and pillows as can be got, 
will go on to-night. The balance to-morrow. 

CHRIS. C. COX, Surgeon U. S. Vols., 

Medical Purveyor. 

Not getting the blankets as he expected, Dr. Cox, on the third, 
telegraphed to Mr. Stephens to send them. How he knew of Mr. 
Stephens is not developed. He swears that he is distinct in his 
recollection that he had no communication with me in regard to 
him prior to Julj fourth. He probably heard in some way^ that 
Mr. Stephens had already supplied blankets to the Medical De- 
partment, and at once availed himself of his (Mr. S.'s) agency. 
On the fourth of July, he telegraphs Mr. Stephens not to send 
the blankets, as he is supplied. On page 2303 of the record, he 
says, in answer to the 

"Question. State whether you informed the Surgeon-General that you pro- 
cured these blankets, for which you had sent an agent to New York. 
"J. To the best of my recollection I did not." 

When I returned to Washington from Fortress Monroe and 
Harrison's Landing, which was on the seventh or eighth, I found 
a letter from Mr. Stephens, stating that Dr. Cox had ordered 
5000 blankets of him, and had subsequently countermanded the 
order, by which action, he (Mr. Stephens) had been placed in a 
false position. At the same time he sent samples of the blankets 
to my oflSce. I then wrote to Dr Cox to purchase the blankets 
according to those samples. I supposed, of course, that he had 
arranged in regard to terms when he had originally ordered them. 
The sample blankets were of excellent quality. I felt that it was 
no more than right that Dr. Cox should fulfill his engagements, 
and did not know that he had been supplied. Had he so informed 
me, I should not have insisted on the order. 

In regard to the quality of those blankets and the necessity for 
the purchase, I quote as follows from the record. Dr. Cox is 
being cross-examined by the defense : — 

"Q. What was the character of the blankets purchased of W. A. Stephens 
or Towusend, and how did ihey compare in quality or prices with those that 
you purchased ? 

"A. They were excellent blankets. Quite as good, according to my judg- 
ment, as the blankets I had." 

And on page 138 : — 

"Q. State whether the transactions with Stephens referred to, were or 
were not in all respects advantageous to the public service. 

" Tlie Judge Advocate objected to the question, but subsequently withdrew 
his objection. 

"A. The blankets were certainly of advantage to the public service. 



46 

"Q. Are you able to state whether the price was a moderate and fair one 
with reference to the quality of the blankets ? 

"^•1. I did not examine the articles minutely with a view to the character 
of the texture. My impression was that the blankets were of excellent 
quality, and I did not regard the price at that time as very high." 

And on page 146, in answer to a question of the Judge Advo- 
cate, Dr. Cox says: — 

"A. I judge from their appearance, and weight, and size, etc. They ap- 
peared to me to be au excellent blanket." 

The certificate of Dr. Cox to the bill of Mr. Stephens is as fol- 
lows: — 

" I certify that the above account is correct, and that the articles were 
purchased and received by me, and were necessary for the public service. 
(Signed) " CHRIS C. COX, 

"Surgeon U. S. V., and Medical Purveyor." 

The bill to which this certificate is appended is dated August 
9th, 1862. It was not paid till May 8th, 1863. 

This concludes all I have to say relative to the 1st and 2d 
specifications of the 1st charge, though there are several other 
points which might be considered with advantage. In the quota- 
tions and remarks I have made relative to Dr. Cox's evidence, I 
do not wish to be understood as imputing to him the least desire 
to misrepresent facts. I have only brought forward his manifest 
contradictions, for the purpose of showing how liable we all are 
to err, and how careful a court should be in its consideration of 
evidence presenting many fallible points. 

In regard to the 3d specification, I deny that I ever ordered 
Dr. Cooper to purchase the blankets referred to. Dr. Cooper 
swore that I gave him a verbal order to this effect. No other 
testimony was offered by the prosecution on the point. 

For the defense, Mr. Stephens testified as follows in reference 
to these blankets, page 1568 of the record: — 

"Q. Do you recollect the sale of a lot of blankets made by you to Surgeon 
Cooper in the latter part of May, 1862 ? 

"A. Perfectly well. 

"Q. Did you have any communication, directly or indirectly, with the Sur- 
geon-General relative to the sale of those blankets — the Hess, Kessel & Co, 
blankets — to Dr. Cooper? 

"A. None whatever. 

"Q. State whether you recollect having seen Dr. Cooper in the store of 
Wyeth & Brother on the evening before the day of that sale. 

"A. 1 did. That was my second interview with him. 

"Q. State whether Dr. Cooper said anything to you that evening or not; 
and if you recollect, state what he did say. 

"The Judge Advocate objected to the question, but the court overruled 
the objection. 

"A. He told me to come down to his office the next day — the next morning. 



47 

"Q. State whether you did or not go to the office of Dr. Cooper the next 
morning, and what passed at that interview. 

'M. I did go to the office, and Dr. Cooper was alone. He said to me, 
shutting the door, ' Stephens, come take a cigar, and we'll put this tiring through 
all right.' With a wink of his eye, and a drawn-down inclination ot his head 
to the If ft, in this kind of a way, [the witness here illustrates by gestures.] I 
responded by handing him the schedule of prices — the list of my goods. He 
remarked to me that there was cotton in the goods. To which 1 replied : 
'Certainly, they were cotton-warp blankets.' He made no further remark to 
me; didn't object to the prices; he looked over the schedule, and said, 'I'll 
buy them ; send 'em along.' 

"Q. Did Dr. Cooper, in that interview, tell you that he had been directed 
to purchase those blankets from you ? 

" The Judge Advocate objected to the question, but he was overruled. 

"A. He never said a word about it. He never used the name of Dr. 
Hammond in the interview." 

The question is not altogether one of veracity between Dr. 
Cooper and Mr. Stephens, for there is strong presumptive evi- 
dence that no such order was ever given. Is it at all probable 
that so experienced an officer as Dr. Cooper would purchase 
blankets, which he knew to be of inferior quality, on a mere 
verbal order? Would he not have said to me, "Give the order 
in writing, and I will of course obey it?" And, even when it is 
reduced to a question of credibility, no unprejudiced person who 
knows Dr. Cooper, who knows his animus toward me, and who, 
upon reading the record, discovers the many points upon which 
he contradicts himself and is contradicted by others, can doubt 
who spoke falsely. On the other hand, Mr. Stephens' evidence 
is uncontradicted by any witness but Cooper. 

In regard to the quality of these blankets. Dr. Cooper swore 
that they were an assorted lot and of high price. Thus, at page 
198, he says, alluding to the alleged order from me: — 

"Nothing at all was said to the Surgeon-General or in his presence, so far 
as 1 recollect, regarding the particular prices of the diiferent qualities of 
blankets. 

"Q. Only what you have stated already, that they were too high-priced. 

"A. Yes." 

And on page 389, when he is cross-examined by the defense, 
he swears as follows, when referring to the interview at which he 
alleges I ordered him to purchase these blankets ; — 

"Q. What reason did you assign for not buying them ? 
"A. I did not like them. 
"Q. Did you assign any other reason? 
"A. That was the only thing I said to him. 

"Q. Did you assign as a reason, at that time, the quality or price of the 
blankets? 

"-4. Not to him. 

"Q. Did you in that conversation? 

"A. To whom. 



48 

"Q. To any one? 

"A. I (lid say on that evening to the Surgeon- General that I did not like 
the blankets, that they were not the kind I was purchasing, and that they 
were comparatively dear." 

And at page 392 : — 

"Q. Was your objection to the quality of the blankets, or to their size or 
price ? 

"A. It was to their not being of the kind I was using, and to their being 
comparatively dearer than what I could purchase." 

Now this is all the testimony adduced by the prosecution rela- 
tive to the quality of these blankets, and yet, in the face of the 
admissions of Dr. Cooper that he had not represented to me that 
the blankets were of bad quality, the court-martial found me 
guilty, not only of ordering Dr. Cooper to procure them, but also 
that I knew at the time that the blankets were of inferior quality. 

Dr. Cooper, when he gave his evidence on this subject, appears 
to have forgotten the certificate which he had signed soon after 
the purchase, and which I put in evidence before the court. It 
is attached to the bill, which is dated New York, May 31st, 1862: 

"I hereby certify that the above account is correct and just, that the arti- 
cles charged for have been furnished, and that the prices were those customary 
at that place. GEO. E. COOPER, 

''Surgeon U. S. A." 

What can we think of a man who, by his evidence, as just 
given, is seen to have falsified his own certificate? and thus to 
have rendered himself, by his own admission, guilty of conduct 
which, by the rules and articles of war, is punished by cashiering? 
And what can we think of the majority of a court who, with the 
pjloofs of this witness's falsehood thus before them, could find me 
guilty of the 3d specification? 

The 4th specification alleges that I unlawfully, and with intent 
to aid W. A. Stephens to defraud the Government of the United 
States, directed Dr. Cooper to purchase blankets of him. And 
the 5th specification alleges that, corruptly and with a like intent, 
I gave Mr. Stephens an order in writing to turn over eight thou- 
sand pairs of blankets to Dr. Cooper. That I ordered Dr. Cooper 
to buy blankets of Mr. Stephens, is true ; that I did so unlawfully, 
I do not believe; that I did so with intent to aid in a fraud, is 
false ; and I gave no such order as that charged in the 5th speci- 
fication. 

The facts are as follows: — 

Some time about the 10th of June, 1862, Mr. Stephens wrote 
me that he had a lot of blankets which he could sell at $5 per 
pair. On the 13th of June, in obedience to orders from the Secre- 



49 

tary of War, I had telegraphed as follows to the Medical Director. 
I knew, therefore, that blankets would be needed: — 

Surgeon-General'8 Ofeice, Washington City, D. C, 
June 13lh, 18G2. 
Telegrapliic ( Covfidential.) 

Prepare additional accommodations for five thousand men within five 
days. Confer with the Quartermaster in regard to buildings, and with 
Surgeon Cooper in regard to supplies. 

W. A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General U. S. A. 
SURGEON W. S. KING, V. S. A., Medical Director, 

422 Walnut Street, Philadelphia. 

On the 14th, I received a sample of Mr. Stephens' blankets. 
I examined them carefully, and considered them worth that price. 
Dr. Laub also examined them, (of which fact he was oblivious 
before the court, but recollected an examination which, he said, 
was made of Mr, Stephens' blankets in July, but which did not 
take place,) and thought them worth the sum asked. On the 
same day, I wrote the letter set forth in the 4th specification, and 
inclosed a piece of the blanket, to which a card was attached. 
Dr. Cooper could not have received this letter before June 15th, 
1862. On Monday, the 16th, he wrote me a letter of a private 
nature, and at the end of it said that Mr. Stephens had just been 
to his office, and was willing to take $4.60 per pair for the 
blankets, but that he thought he could do still better, and asked 
me for additional instructions. I telegraphed him immediately 
as follows, (page 222 of the record): — 

Dated Washington, June 17th, 1862. 

To SURGEON G. E. COOPER, 

No. 9 North Fifth Street. 
Do as you see best about the blankets from Stephens. 

WM. A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General. 

One would think this sufficient to leave Dr. Cooper at entire 
liberty relative to his action ; but, not content with the telegram, 
I wrote him a private letter as follows, (page 1328 of the record) : 

Surgeon-General's Office, Washington, D. C, 
June 17th, 1862. 
Dear Doctor : — 

I telegraphed you to-day, immediately on receipt of your letter, to do as 
you thought best about Stephens' blankets. His offer to me was at $5, and 
I thought the sample worth the money. I mentioned the price merely in 
order that you should not pay more than that sum for them. Are you sure 
that those he offers at $4.60 are the same that he asked me $5 for ? 

Whenever I send you orders to make particular purchases, it is, of course, 
with the full understanding on my part, that if you see any objections you 
will refer the matter back to me for further instructions, as in this case. 

I do not know much about Stephens. He appears, however, to be a good 



50 

man. Hartshorne is responsible for him, and he says he is altogether reliable. 
I have never seen him but once in my life. If you don't loant his blankets, 
don't buy them at any price. Laub thought them good, but I don't think 
he knows any more al)out such matters than 1 do. 

How would you like to go to New York as Medical Purveyor? I can't 
get Hatterlee to take a sufficiently large view of the present emergency. He 
is a good old fellow, but terribly slow. He does not seem to be able to com- 
prehend the idea of an army of over 15,000 men, or an expenditure of over 
$100,000 a year. Doubtless, as you say, you have your troubles ; but yours 
are a drop in the bucket compared to mine. One thing 1 am determined 
upon — the sick shall be properly supplied, if it takes every dollar 1 can get 
hold of. 

I hope you are getting ready for the wounded expected from the Peninsula. 
Don't spare any effort to be prepared. The Secretary is anxious about the 
matter, as I judge from his manner. 

I hope you will like Hobart. He is a good boy, perfectly truthful and re- 
liable. He is perhaps a little slow, and I must ask you to bear with him in 
this respect till he has learned his duties. 

1 will try and come on soon. Let me know when you want any assistance 
that I can give you. Yours sincerely, 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. 
SURGEON GEORGE E. COOPER, 

Philadelphia. 
[Indorsed in pencil.] 

Received, Med. Purveyor's Office, Philada., Pa., June 18th, 1862. 

A former hospital steward of Dr. Cooper's, who had served 
with him some time, and every clerk who had been on duty in his 
office, swore that the above indorsement was in Dr. Cooper's 
handwriting. One of them testified that he had seen the letter 
in Dr. Cooper's possession, and Dr. Cooper himself, after swear- 
ing that he could not say positively whether he had received it 
or not, admitted that it was familiar to him. Subsequently, in 
presence of the reporter of the court, Mr. Hitt, he remembered 
that he could write just like that, and then wrote the words of 
the indorsement; and at a still later day he declared that the let- 
ter had been taken from his office. The court, after once reject- 
ing the letter, accepted it, and it was admitted in evidence. How 
it came into the possession of my counsel will appear hereafter. 

Now, after the reception of the telegram and this letter, can 
any one doubt the perfect freedom of Dr. Cooper in regard to the 
purchase of Mr. Stephens' blankets ? And how could the ma- 
jority of a court-martial dare so to violate their oaths as to find 
me guilty of aiding in a fraud? Dr. Cooper said in evidence that 
I had taken the matter out of his hands by writing the order to 
Mr. Stephens, set forth in the 5th specification. But Mr. Stephens 
testified positively that no such order was given him, and that 
my letter to him simply contained these words: "Call on Dr. 
Cooper, and he will purchase your blankets." Moreover, assum- 
ing that I had given such an order as is alleged, the telegram of 
the seventeenth and the letter of the same date are both subse- 
quent to the date of the supposed order, and should have been 



51 

regarded by Dr. Cooper as leaving him at full liberty. All re- 
sponsibility for the purchase rests with him ; for the blankets 
were not received till the twenty-first, and were not paid for till 
long afterwards. Up to the time of receipt and inspection, Dr. 
Cooper retained the full right to do as he pleased in the mat- 
ter — a right which is always exercised by every purchasing ofl5- 
cer of the United States. 

And now, to point out a few of the falsehoods to which Dr. 
Cooper testified before the court-martial. He swore positively 
that he wrote me no letter of date June 16th, 1862, relative to 
these blankets. The telegram and my letter of the seventeenth 
show that he did. He said that on Monday, the fifteenth, he 
wrote a letter to me, and he presented a copy of it to the court. 
It is as follows: — 

Philadelphia, Penna., June 15th, 1862. 
Dear Hammond: — 

I am just in receipt of an order directing me to purchase 8000 pairs of 
blankets of Stephens, of the variety Fair. 

I refused to purchase them of him because of quality. I can get a better 
article at a less price. 

If you wish to compensate him for services rendered you in your campaign 
for the surgeon-generalship, the 3000 pairs you directed me to purchase from 
him some weeks since are enough, and these 8000 pairs would be crowding 
the mourners off the anxious seats. 

Think well of this, and answer me immediately by telegraph if possible. 

Yours, COOPER. 

This letter was never written to me by Dr. Cooper. He would 
not have dared to oifer me so gross an insult as this letter con- 
tains. It bears internal evidence of its falsehood. He swore 
that he took a copy of it, which he put in his desk, and mailed 
the original himself. No one ever saw this copy, although Cap- 
tain Elliott, of the Subsistence Department, who was at the time 
one of his clerks, had daily access to all his papers, and frequently 
arranged them. The copy which he presented to the court was 
written, as he swore, in his office. The paper is of a peculiar 
quality, thin, blue, and wide ruled. Not one of his clerks had 
ever seen such paper in his office, and not one of his letters to 
the Surgeon-General's office (and there are over a hundred) were 
written on such paper. I made affidavit before the court that I 
never had received the letter. 

In my letter of the seventeenth to Dr. Cooper I refer to a state- 
ment by him that Stephens had offered him the blankets at $-4-60. 
No such statement is made hy Dr. Cooper in this false letter of 
the fifteenth. I also say that 1 telegraphed immediately on receipt 
of his letter. A letter written by him on the fifteenth, and mailed, 
as he swore, at half-past four o'clock p.m., would have been in 
my office on the morning of the sixteenth. Moreover, can it be 
supposed that if he had written me so infamous a letter as the 

4 



52 

one referred to, I would have answered him in the terms of my 
l^ter of the seventeenth? The whole thing is preposterous. He 
never wrote that letter, but he did write one of the sixteenth, to 
which I have already referred, and which I received on the seven- 
teenth. He swore he did not, and my telegram and letter of the 
seventeenth show that he did. The letter of the 15th of June was 
got up about the middle of November, 1862, and was exhibited in 
Washington, as I have learned, by a corn doctor named Zacharie, 
who made many threats of vengeance because I had refused to 
give my sanction to his entrance into the army, although he was 
supported by the President and other prominent politicians. 

Dr. Cooper repeatedly swore that the blankets were of bad 
quality and high price. His testimony is refuted by numerous 
witnesses, and the words ''''which blankets were unfit for hospital 
use'' were disproved in the opinion even of the court. It is not, 
therefore, necessary to quote from the record any portion of the 
voluminous evidence relative to the good quality of these blankets. 
In regard, however, to the alleged high price and deficient weight, 
there is conclusive evidence against the prosecution. Thus it is 
shown that there was not more than one other lot like them, and 
that was at Watson's, the lot afterward purchased by Townsend; 
that the prices at cash sales were rapidly rising in the market; 
and we have the concurrent testimony of Messrs. Carville, Vail, and 
Spaulding, all blanket dealers, and of the several brokers engaged 
in the transaction, that the sale to the Government at $4.60 per 
pair, at the time, upon the terms at which it (the Government) 
was in the market, was a fair sale. Mr. Spaulding, a witness for 
the defense, and one of the firm of Spaulding, Vail, Hunt & Co., 
of whom the blankets were bought, says: — 

"Q. State the character and quality of these blankets. 

"A. The character and quality of these blankets was a white Union Mack- 
inaw blanket of what would be called fair quality, neither the best nor the 
poorest, but what is called a good quality. The weis:ht was eight pounds." 
(Page 1371.) 

The prosecution tried to prove a fraud in the weight, but Mr. 
Spaulding produced his papers, and testified as follows relative to 
these blankets : — 

"They came in several vessels — there might have been seven or eight ves- 
sels that they came by — and from each invoice one or more, sometimes five 
or six bales, went to the custom-house for examination and verification ; 
thereupon it is the habit of the custom-house to amend the duties. If they 
fall short, they deduct the pound weight ; if they overrun, they add it. I 
had occasion to look at my check-boal^s, and the amended duties were 608 
pounds overweight, which we paid duty for above the eight pounds for which 
they were entered at the custom-house. I find by my memorandum that 
there was $36.48 excess of weight, which, at six cents per pound, is 608 
pounds overweight in the whole invoice of seventy odd bales." 



53 

We see, therefore, and the same point is proven by Mr. Vail, 
another member of the firm, that there was no fraud in the weight 
of these blankets. 

And again, as to the price: — 

"Q. Do you know whether or not, soon after the sale by your house, that 
description of goods rose speedily in the market of New York ? 

*' The Judge Advocate objected, but was overruled. 

"A. It is a fact that they did rise very rapidly. The goods were sold 
below the market price. 

" Question repeated. 

"A. Yes; if I should answer as far as I could, I should say, at the time 
the blanket^ were sold, n't ivas a very low price for them. I think it was in 
the neighborhood of the time of the battles on the Peninsula, and a great 
many blankets were wanted, a great many more than were in the market, 
and they rose very rapidly; and I considered I made a very low sale at 
the time I did make it, because 1 wanted the money. 

"Q. Could you have afforded to have sold that lot of blankets to the Gov- 
ernment upon the usual terms upon which the Government purchased goods 
at the price at which you did sell them to the parties named ? 

" The Judge Advocate objected, but was overruled. He desired his excep- 
tion to be noted. 

"A. I could not. If I were allowed to state my reasons I would like to. 
If the Government would have paid the money to me at the time I could 
have done so." (Page 1374.) 

Mr. Charles Carville, an importer of blankets, was examined 
for the defense: — 

"Q. State whether, in June, 1862, there was or not a supply of that spe- 
cies of blanket [a sample of the lot sold by Stephens to the United States is 
here shown the witness] in the market of New York. 

^'A. I think the supply of this description of blankets was not very large 
at that time ; white blankets. 

"Q. State what would have been a fair price in the market for blankets 
of that description in the middle of June, 1862. 

"yl. About $4.50 to $5 per pair of eight pounds would be about the 
price," 

But this is not all. The bill for the blankets, as sold to the 
United States and as certified to by Dr. Cooper himself, was 
presented in evidence, as follows: — 

New York, June 17th, 1862. 
The United States 

To William A. Stephens ^ Co., Dr. 

1862. 
June 17. 77 bales White Mackinaw Blankets, 7677 pairs, (8 lbs. to 

the pair,) at $4.60 $35,314 20 

Blanket wrappers to be paid for at $2 per pair, or else returned. 



$35,314 20 

I hereby certify that the above account is correct and just, that the arti- 
cles charged for have been furnished, and that the 'price is that customary 
at this place. (Signed) GEO. E. COOPER, 

Surgeon tf. S. A. 



54 

Here is Dr. Cooper's own evidence to prove the justness of the 
account and the fairness of the price, written, at a time when he 
had no enmity against me, and was not the tool of the Reeder 
commission and the Secretary of War. It is directly contrary in 
its tenor to the evidence he gave before the court, and never could 
have been written by a man who could have writteji the infamous 
letter which he says he wrote on the fifteenth of June, for it 
contradicts it too positively. 

A letter was produced by the prosecution from Mr. Stephens 
to me, dated Philadelphia, June 13th, 1862, in which the following 
passage occurs: — 

"I wrote you that the price of the blankets would be 62^ per pound, or 
$5 per pair, but I have succeeded in making a better arrangement." 

This letter never was received by me. It was produced by 
Surgeon Laub, a witness for the prosecution, who swore that he 
found it among his papers, and that he did not know how it came 
into his possession. Mr. Stephens testified that he put it into 
the lamp post box at Twelfth and Chestnut Streets, after the last 
collection on the thirteenth, consequently it did not leave Phila- 
delphia till the morning of the fourteenth, and I could not pos- 
sibly have had it when my order to Dr. Cooper was written. 
Although I objected to the admissibility of this letter as evidence, 
on the ground that it was not shown ever to have been in ray pos- 
session, the court decided to receive it. This decision is of itself 
suflicient to show the bias of a majority of the court. I noted an 
exception to this ruling of the court, so contrary to every prin- 
ciple of the rules of evidence and of justice. In reference to this 
letter. Dr. Laub testified as follows, (page 941 of the record): — 

"§• (By Judge Advocate.) State when you first noticed this letter of June 
13th, purporting to be written by Wm. A. Stephens, in your possession. 

"^. The first time that I ever saw this letter, to my recollection, was three 
or four days since, when I was looking over my papers, to refresh my memory 
upon other points upon which I supposed 1 was to give evidence here, and I 
came across this letter among my papers. 

"Q. State if you know how this letter came into your possession. 

"A. I do not." 

That the letter had been purloined before it came into my 
hands, and afterward placed among Dr. Laub's papers so that he 
could find it, is an almost irresistible conclusion. As will be 
shown hereafter, this was only a small theft compared with others 
of which I was the victim. 

And now, in regard to any personal interest I had in any 
of Mr. Stephens' affairs. He swears that he had only seen 
me once in his life before any of these purchases, and that was 
when I stopped at his house, with Dr. Hartshorne, of Philadelphia, 
for a few minutes, on my way to the railway station, some six 



5^ 

months or more before I was appointed Surgeon-General, {page 
1566;) that he never met me during these transactions, (page 
1567 ;) that he had never advocated, in the newsp^aper which he 
then edited, my selection as Surgeon-General; "that there never 
was a line in it advocating him for the post," (page 1568;) and 
further, (page 1592): — 

"Q. State whether, in any of your transactions with the Medical Depart- 
ment, the Surgeon-General had any personal interest, direct or indirect;- 
whether he was to gain or lose anything by any one of them. 

"A. He had no interest whatever in any transaction of mine with the 
Medical Bureau ; not one single cent. 

"Q. Was there at any time any understanding or agreement between you 
and himself, directly or indirectly, that yon should render him a service in 
obtaining the appointment of Surgeon-General ? 

" The Judge Advocate objected to the jjuestion as irrelevant and incom- 
petent, but tha court overruled the objecticfn. 

"A. None luhaiever. I never had any conversation with him on that 
subject; none, directly or indirectly." 

This evidence of Mr. Stephens is uncontradicted by any wit- 
ness. Indeed, no- attempt was made by the prosecution to con- 
tradict it. 

But, notwithstanding it was shown that by my telegram and 
letter of the seventeenth of June, I left Dr. Cooper at liberty 
to do as he saw fit; that I did not write the order set forth in the 
5th specification; that the blankets bought were of full weight, fair 
price, and fit for hospital use ; and that there was no fraud com- 
mitted at all, the majority of the court decided that I had cor- 
ruptly ordered Dr. Cooper to buy those blankets, and with the 
intent of aiding in a fraud upon the Government! 

The 6th specification alleges that I ordered Dr. Cooper to lay 
in large quantities of supplies, for the purpose of aiding Joha 
Wyeth & Brother fraudulently to realize large gains thereon ^ 
and did order Dr. Cooper to purchase a large amount of such 
supplies from said John Wyeth & Brother; that this was done cor- 
ruptly and with Jthe full knowledge that I was acquainted with the 
fact that the supplies theretofore furnished by said dealers were 
inferior in quality, deficient in quantity, and excessive in price. 

I admit that on the 31st day of July, 1862, I directed Dr.. 
Cooper to fill up his storehouses, so as to have constantly on hand 
hospital supplies for two hundred thousand men for six months; 
and that I desired him not to issue said stores without orders 
from me. That I did this with any evil intent ; that I ordered him 
to purchase any part of it from Wyeth & Brother ; or that I knew 
this firm had previously furnished supplies which were "inferior 
in quality, deficient in quantity, and excessive in price," I deny. 

The only orders I ever gave to the Messrs. Wyeth, were for 
beef extract and for oakum. I approved of Dr. Cooper making 
his purchases from them. He made the suggestion himself, as he 



56 

admits in his evidence, (page 189 of the record,) and I acceded 
to it. I had known them for many years; we had gone to school 
together; they were industrious, capable, and honest men. I 
have never learned the contrary, and till the contrary is shown, 
I shall continue to have faith in them. As was proved before the 
court, Dr. Cooper himself, several months before I was made 
Surgeon-General, and when he was Medical Director of Sherman's 
Expedition to Hilton Head, gave them a large order. 

The evidence that I gave Dr. Cooper an order to purchase from 
Messrs. Wyeth & Brother any part of the supplies I directed 
him to procure on the thirty-first of July, is altogether his own. 
No other witness supports the allegation. He says I gave him 
the order in his private office, that no one was present but our- 
selves, and that the order was verbal, and was not limited to 
drugs. It is, therefore, of course impossible for me to directly 
disprove his testimony; but fortunately there are many circum- 
stances which, when taken in connection, leave no doubt of the 
falsity of his evidence. 

It has already been shown that the accumulation of large quan- 
tities of supplies at certain points was approved of by the Secre- 
tary of War, and that he sanctioned the bill, which subsequently 
became a law, providing for the appointment of Medical Store- 
keepers to take care of these depots. 

He knew of my action from the very first ; but on the 10th of 
November, 1862, he was officially informed of the fact in my an- 
nual report, in which I told him that "large depots of medical 
supplies have been established at New York, Philadelphia, Balti- 
more, Fortress Monroe, Washington, Cincinnati, Cairo, St. Louis, 
and Nashville, and have proved of incalculable advantage to the 
sick and wounded. Moreover, large sums have been saved by the 
accumulation of stores before the recent advance in prices took 
place." 

On the twenty-ninth of July, I wrote a private letter to Dr. 
Cooper as follows : — 

Surgeon-Gkneral's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
July 29th, 1862. 
Dear Doctor: — 

I sliall give you orders in a day or two to get ready a large quantity of 
supplies, so as to be constantly prepared for any emergency whiih may arise. 
I will try to be in Philadelphia in a few days to consult with you on the sub- 
ject. In purchasing supplies, I think it is much better to buy all articles 
from those who are dealers in them — liquors from liquor dealers, groceries 
from grocers, books from booksellers, drugs from druggists, etc. The sys- 
tem of buying all things from one person, which prevailed to a great extent 
under the old regime, is not the correct principle. 

I am glad you like Hobart. I am anxious to see the instruments. 

Yours sincerely, 

W. A. HAMMOND. 
SURGEON G. E. COOPER, U. S. A., 

Philadelphia. 



57 

Now, is it likely that I would have written this letter on the 
twenty-ninth of July, and on the thirty-first have ordered Dr. 
Cooper, as he swears, to purchase groceries, liquors, etc. from the 
Messrs. Wyeth? He himself in his evidence admitted that the 
letter "was familiar to him;" it was seen in his possession by at 
least one of his clerks; and all of them swear that the partially 
erased indorsement on the back, "Received July 30th, 1862," is 
in his handwriting. The letter was admitted in evidence by the 
court. 

Dr. Cooper also swore that I had previously given him verbal 
orders to purchase everything of the Wyeths ; and yet I put in 
evidence two other letters (official) which contradict him positively. 

Dr. Cooper swore that he remonstrated with me relative to the 
alleged order to purchase of Wyeths. Is it probable that if I had 
given him an order to purchase of them to so large an amount, he 
would not have insisted in having it in writing? I gave all my 
orders openly. I contend now, as I did then, that I had a right 
to order the Medical Purveyor of whom he should purchase. The 
Surgeon-General is the responsible head of the Medical Depart- 
ment, and Dr. Cooper at that time had given no bonds for the 
faithful performance of his duty. Therefore I claim that if I had 
given the order, I would have committed no offense, unless it was 
given corruptly and with the intent to aid in a fraud. 

Did I know on the 31st of July, 1862, that Wyeth & Brother 
had already furnished bad drugs, of short weight or quantity, and 
of excessive price? If I did, and gave Dr. Cooper an order to 
purchase of them, I committed a grave offense; and if under 
these circumstances I sanctioned his purchases of them, my mis- 
demeanor would have been scarcely less. 

When I came into the office of Surgeon- General, I found the 
Messrs. Wyeth were dealing largely with the Government, not 
only with the Medical Department, but with the Quartermaster's 
Department. Dr. Finley, my predecessor, had ordered the Medi- 
cal Purveyor to purchase of them, as the following letter shows: — ■ 

Sukgeon-General's Office, Washington City, D. C, 
September 21st, 1861. 
Sir:— 

By direction of the Surgeon-General, I forward to you the accompanying 
Requisition of Assistant Surgeon C. R. Alexander, Medical Purveyor at St. 
Louis, Mo., for 80.000 men, for four mouths, ending December 3lst. 1861, 
who wishes that Mr. Wyeth, of Philadelphia, may be directed to furnish the 
articles. I have the honor to be. 

By order. Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

L. A. EDWARDS, 
SURGEON R. S. S ATTERLEE, U. S. A., Surgeon U. S. A. 

110 Grand Street, N. Y. 

The word "who," in the above letter, does not perhaps refer 



58 

grammatically to the "Surgeon-General;" but that this is an in- 
advertence of the writer is clear, from the facts that Dr. Alexander 
made no such request, and that Mr. Wyeth did put up the sup- 
plies. 

This letter was offered in evidence by the defense and rejected 
by the court. (P. 2218.) 

Messrs. Wyeth also, before I came into office, furnished the 
medical stores for the Burnside expedition to North Carolina. 
And the following letter from the Medical Purveyor of that expe- 
dition relates to the quality of the articles they supplied: — 

Roanoke Island, March 7th, 1862. 
Dr. SATTERLEE, Medical Purveyor. 
Dear Sir : — 

Inclosed please find my receipt for medical stores. I should have forwarded 
it before, bat the articles did not arrive until the 3d instant. I yesterday 
examined them and found ail correct. 

I would here remark that the stores were most carefully packed, and I do 
not believe there is more than one bottle broken out of the entire invoice. 
I tested the whisky yesterday, and I think it is the best, without exception, 
that I have seen in our army. 

So far as my judjjment goes, Messrs. Wyeth & Brother are entitled to 
great credit for the promptness and exceeding good order in which they put 
up their supplies. I am, dear Sir, 

Yours obediently, 

J. H. THOMPSON, 

Brig. Suroeo7i U. S. A. 

Now, although this letter was acknowledged by Surgeon Thomp- 
son, then a witness before the court, to be his, the court rejected 
it as evidence ! It was written before my appointment, but as I 
had seen it, it was admissible, as showing my knowledge of the 
character of Messrs. Wyeths' supplies. Dr. Thompson also tes- 
tified before the court that the drugs and liquors which this firm 
had furnished before my appointment were of excellent quality. 
(Page 1877.) 

The Army Regulations require all medical officers receiving 
supplies to report to the Surgeon-General their character, and 
whether or not they agree with the invoices. JSfo report tvas ever 
made to my office., previous to July 31s^, 1862, that the stores 
supplied hy Messrs. Wyeth were inferior in quality, deficient in 
quantity, or excessive in price. And only one was made after 
that (late. This was from a citizen physician stationed at Fort 
Delaware, and was at once referred by me to Surgeon Cooper for 
investigation. It was of date September 7th, 1862. 

As to the good quality of the drugs which this house had 
furnished, the evidence was overwhelming. Medical Inspec- 
tors Cuyler, Coolidge, and Vollum ; Surgeons Murray, Cox, 
and Thompson, Medical Purveyors; Surgeon Letterman, Medical 
Director of the Army of the Potomac; Surgeon Abbott, Medical 
Director Department of Washington ; Surgeon A. K. Smith, Direc- 



59 

tor of the Army Laboratory in Philadelphia; Prof. Maisch, the 
Chief Chemist of the Laboratory; Surgeons Magruder, I. L Hayes, 
L. A. Edwards, and J. Hopkinson, Assistant Surgeon William 
Thompson, and Acting Assistant Surgeons Baldwin and Rowe, 
Mr. Farr. of the house of Powers & Weightman, from whom the 
Messrs. Wyeth obtained the greater part of the medicines they 
put up, Mr. Locke, who furnished them the alcohol, and Mr. 
Harrison Smith, who purchased the liquors, teas, etc. for them, 
testified to the excellent character of their supplies. 

With the single exception of the report from Fort Delaware, 
no complaint of the character of the supplies furnished from 
Philadelphia had reached my office (and that, I think, only re- 
lated to some flaxseed) before Dr. Cooper was finally relieved by 
the Secretary of War. After that event, I heard rumors of bad 
quality and deficient quantity. Before they had assumed an 
official form, I sent Medical Inspector Coolidge, U. S. Army, to 
Philadelphia, with the following instructions: — 

Surgeon-General's Office, WAsniNaxoN City, D. C, 
December 4th, 1862. 
Sir:— 

You will proceed to Philadelphia to-morrow and make the following 
inquiries : — 

1st. Of whom the late Medical Purveyor purchased the medicines and 
hospital stores issued to the hospitals in Philadelphia and the army at large. 
2d. Whether or not the articles purchased of the several dealers were of 
good quality and proper weight. 

3d. Whether, in case of any deficiencies in these respects, the facts were 
reported to this office and to the dealers, and what steps were taken, and by 
whom, to rectify them. 

4th. Whether or not the late Medical Purveyor purchased on his own re- 
sponsibility of whom he pleased, or by orders or instructions from this office. 
You are authorized to call on Acting Assistant Surgeon R. E. Rogers, 
U. S. A., Professor of Chemistry in the University of Pennsylvania, for any 
assistance you may require in making these examinations, and upon the 
surgeons in charge of the several hospitals. 
By order of the Surgeon-General. 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

J. R. SMITH, 

Sarg. D. S. Army. 
MEDICAL INSPECTOR R. H. COOLIDGE, U. S. A., 

Washington. 

The report of Medical Inspector Coolidge is so perfectly con- 
clusive, relative to this matter of bad quality and short measure, 
that I append it without abridgment. 

Washington, D. C, December i!6tL, 18G2. 
General: — 

In oltedience to your orders of the fourth instant, I proceeded to Phila- 
delphia the next day, and herewith present the result of the inquiries and 
examinations I was directed to make. 



60 

In answer to the first inquiry, "Of whom the late Medical Purveyor pur- 
chased the medicines and hospital stores issued to the hospitals in Philadel- 
phia and to the army at large?" I respectfully refer you to the letter of that 
officer, and to the list of names of merchants therein inclosed, marked re- 
spectively Nos. 1 and 2. [This list contains the names of fifty-six firms of 
Philadelphia.] 

In reply to the second inquiry, " Whether or not the articles purchased of 
the several dealers were of good quality and of proper weight ?" I have to 
state that I visited many of the hospitals and examined the medical and 
hospital supplies, weighing or measuring large numbers of articles. 

I have no hesitation in saying that, as the very general rule, the medicines 
and hospital supplies were of good quality, and of proper weight or measure. 
With few exceptions, the medicines were not only good, but of the best 
quality, and the supplies generally compare favorably with those furnished 
to the army during the last twenty years, with the exception of iron bed- 
steads and blankets. The kind of iron bedstead supplied to the Medical 
Department previous to the present rebellion is better, but at the same time 
far more costly than those now furnished, and I believe it to be impossible 
at present to purchase as good blankets as were formerly made specially for 
our hospitals. 

1 have fully satifified myself that the reports of deficiencies in loeight and 
measure of articles purchased in Philadelphia originated in testing them by 
troy instead of avoirdupois weight, and in measuring of fluids that are sold 
by loeight. 

Although this statement will be perfectly understood by yourself, it is 
proper to state that the troy ounce is 42-5 grains heavier than the avoirdu- 
pois ounce, and that eight ounces, by weight, of chloroform will measure but 
little more than five fluid ounces. I found in many of the hospitals a nest 
of weights purporting to be a pound, but which was really sixteen ounces 
troy, being 680 grains heavier than the avoirdupois pound. 

For the exceptions to the general rule of good quality and proper weight, 
I refer you to the accompanying letter, from Medical Storekeeper Victor 
Zoeller. marked No. 3. 

In addition to the articles therein specified, I found in some of the hospi- 
tals powdered opium slightly deficient in weight, which ought not to have 
been the case if the opium had been thoroughly dried when sold. Lump 
opium weighed less than invoiced, but the deficiency Avas not greater than 
the usual loss per cent, in drying. vSome cod-liver oil measured twenty-six 
instead of thirty-two ounces; to this the Messrs. Wyeth state that they em- 
ployed a professional bottler to bottle the oil from the cask, and that it is 
usual to gauge a few bottles and fill others to the same level, and they ex- 
plain the ditlerence found in actual measurement by want of uniformity in 
the size of the bottles, it having been impossible during the summer to 
obtain bottles of the same mould in sufficient numbers to fill the army 
requisitions. 

To the third inquiry, " Whether or not, in case of any deficiencies in these 
respects, {quality and weight,) the facts were reported to this [the Surgeon- 
General's) office, and what steps were taken, and by whom, to rectify them?" 
I reply that I have not been able to find an instance in which a report of 
the bad quality or deficient quantity of any article of medical and hospital 
supply was made to the Surgeon-General's office, and the only reports of 
that character that have been made to the Medical Purveyor in Philadelphia 
are those mentioned in the letter of Medical Storekeeper Zoeller, above re- 
ferred to. I have no reason to believe that any fraudulent sales ivere made. 

So far as I have been able to ascertain, the parties who have sold articles 
of inferior quality or of deficient weight, have cheerfully replaced the articles 
with others of good quality, and made good the reported deficiencies. 

In reply to the fourth inquiry, " Whether or not the late Medical Purveyor 



61 

purchased on his own responsibility of whom he pleased, or on orders or in- 
structions from this (the Surgeon-General's) office ?" I respectfully refer you 
to the accompanying letters, addressed to myself, by Surgeon George B. 
Cooper and the Messrs. Wyeth, marked respectively Nos. 4 and 5. 
I have the honor to be, very respectfully, 
Your obedt. servt., 

RICHARD H. OOOLTDGB, 

Medical Inspector D. S. A. 
BRIG.-GEN. W. A. HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General U. S. A., Washington, D. G. 

This letter, whicb, among other points, contains conclusive 
evidence that no report of the bad quality or deficient quantity 
of any article of medical supply purchased in Philadelphia had 
been made to my office, and thus bears directly upon the matter 
at issue in the 6th specification, was rejected by the court, but 
in his subsequent testimony (page 1790 and following) Medical In- 
spector Coolidge swears positively to the circumstances connected 
with the reports of bad quality and short weight as stated by 
him, and that the deficiencies were not confined to any one firm. 

And now as to what houses were concerned in the furnishing 
of these supplies. 

From the report of the Medical Storekeeper, referred to by 
Dr. Coolidge, it is shown that wine of colchicum, ext. of bella- 
donna, paregoric, laudanum, tincture of aconite, oiled silk, adhe- 
sive plaster, and lint furnished by Messrs. Hance, Griffith & Co., 
were either of bad quality or deficient quantity. As in the cases 
which occurred to the Messrs. Wyeth, the articles were replaced 
by them. I never considered that Messrs. Hance, Griffith & Co. 
were guilty of fraud any more than I regarded the Messrs. Wyeth 
as criminal. Any one at all conversant with the trade and the 
necessity which existed for rapidly furnishing the supplies needed, 
will understand how such deficiencies could occur. It is very 
plain, however, that I knew nothing of any defects in quality or 
quantity before Dr. Coolidge's report, which was made several 
months after the order to Dr. Cooper, set forth in the 6th speci- 
fication, is alleged to have been given. Dr. Cooper himself testi- 
fies that he never made any report to me relative to either of 
these points. 

The only evidence adduced in support of the allegation that I 
knew the Messrs. Wyeth had furnished bad drugs, of deficient 
quantity and excessive price, is that of Dr. Cooper, who swore 
that he had, on the thirty-first day of July, shown me a single 
bottle of alcohol which he said was two ounces short, and of a 
man named Kefier, himself a dealer in alcohol, who measured and 
examined this bottle. The value of Keffer's evidence will be 
perceived by every chemist when his assertion, that he knew the 
alcohol contained fusel oil from the fact that it was sticky when 
rubbed on the hands, is considered. The alcohol furnished by the 



6a 

Messrs. "VYyetli was manufactured by Mr. Z. Locke, of Philadelphia, 
and, according to the United States Dispensatory of Profs. Wood 
and Bache, is of excellent quality and is the best made in that city. 
It is impossible that fusel oil could have been added to it, for this 
substance is and was worth more than alcohol. As to the defi- 
ciency in quantity, it did not exist, and even if it had existed, I 
knew perfectly well that quart bottles vary in measure, sometimes 
running under thirty-two ounces, but generally exceeding that 
capacity; and if I had intended giving Dr. Cooper an order to 
purchase of the Messrs. Wyeth, no such examination as that testi- 
fied to by Cooper and his friend Kefi'er, who was himself asking 
for orders, would have influenced me. That Dr. Cooper did not 
himself believe at that time in any fraudulent conduct on the part 
of the Messrs. Wyeth, is shown by the fact that he subsequently, 
without alleging any interference from me in their behalf, gave 
them large orders. As to the price of Wyeths' alcohol, it is 
shown by the testimony of Mr. Perot, a druggist of standing in 
Philadelphia, to have been cheaper than that of Dr. Cooper's par- 
ticular friends, Cantwell & Keffer. It is also proven by Dr. A. 
K. Smith, U. S. A., and Prof Maisch, of the laboratory, that 
alcohol taken from the same lot as that referred to by Cooper 
and Keffer, was over measure and of excellent quality. Since 
my relief from duty, and even since the adjournment of the court, 
the Government has bought largely from this house. 

As to any corrupt influence brought to bear upon me by the 
Messrs. Wyeth, no single witness could be found to point at the 
shadow of such a thing. On the contrary, Colonel Scott, late 
Assistant Secretary of War, and a connection of Mr. John Wyeth, 
whom I had never seen while I was in charge of the Bureau, and 
with whom I had never had the least correspondence, but who 
was supposed by the Judge Advocate to have bargained for my 
appointment, testified as follows, (page 1500): — 

"Q. (By Judge Advocate.) State whether you have any personal knowl- 
edge of suggestions about furnishing John Wyeth orders for supplies con- 
nected with the appointment of Surgeon-General Hammond. 

*'A. None, sir. I never saw General Hammond in my life until October, 
1863. I never, by implication or otherwise, had anything to do with pro- 
curing an order from General Hammond for John Wyeth or anybody else, 
to furnish supplies for the Government." 

And Mr. Francis Wyeth, a member of the firm, (Mr. John 
Wyeth being temporarily in California, on business, and not 
served with a summons by the Government, though I desired 
that he might be called as a witness for the defense,) testified 
as follows : — 

"Q. State whether, in any of the transactions of your house with the 
Medical Purveyor's Department of the United States, the accused had any 
interest, personal or pecuniary, direct or indirect, any profit or advantage 
therefrom. 



63 

"The Judge Advocate objected to this question ; was overruled, and desired 
his exception to be noted. 
"A. He had not." 

And further, when cross-examined by the Judge Advocate. 

"Q. How do you know that the Surgeon-General had not any interest in 
the supplies furnished by your house ? 

"A . No business connected xvith the house could be carried on loithout 
my knoivledge. Beii\g a partner in the concern, I loas interested in all the 
moneyed transactions of the firm, I would be consulted, and be one to ad- 
vise with." 

As to the amount of business done by the Messrs. Wyeth with 
the Government, while I was in charge of the Bureau as Surgeon- 
General, the following table shows how it compares with that done 
by other firms: — 

Paton & Co., New York $1,813,872 90 

Wyeth & Brother, Philadelphia 657,122 17 

Wilson & Peter, Louisville 51)2,8U9 37 

Schiefflin & Co., New York 30G,694 67 

E R. Squibb, New York 286,199 40 

Suire, Eckstein & Co., Cincinnati 252,122 17 

It is thus seen that the business of the Messrs. Wyeth was only 
about a third that of a firm in New York, and very little larger 
than one in Louisville. 

During the period above referred to there was disbursed by the 
Medical Bureau: — 

In New York $5,193,525 47 

Philadelphia 2,314,738 07 

Louisville 1,429,051 21 

Cincinnati 1,029,940 93 

Baltimore 608,320 10 

St. Louis 600,047 88 

If any undue preference is shown for Philadelphia, I am unable 
to discover it; and I doubt if any more equitable distribution of 
the disbursements of the Medical Department could have been 
made. Notwithstanding the orders given to Dr. Cox, the Medical 
Purveyor in Baltimore, it is seen that he continued to purchase to 
the extent of over six hundred thousand dollars. 

And now I must bring to a close my remarks relative to the 
6th specification. I do not believe any disinterested and intelli- 
gent person who carefully reads the record of the trial can for a 
moment believe me guilty of its allegations, and I do not envy 
the feelings of the majority of the court who, blinded by fear and 
prejudice, have reached a conclusion far more dishonorable to 
them than to me. 

In relation to the 7th specification, I have very little to say. 
I admit giving the order specified ; but as the court could not dis- 
cover any evidence at all tending to show corrupt motives, and as 
it could not disregard the overwhelming testimony adduced rela- 



64 

tive to the good quality of the beef extract and the necessity 
which existed for its purchase, there remains nothing but an excess 
of authority on ray part, upon which I have already remarked at 
sufficient length. The evidence of Medical Inspector Coolidge 
respecting the beef extract is so conclusive that I subjoin a por- 
tion of it. 

In answer to a question of the accused to state what he knew 
of the use of Wyeth's beef extract after the second battle of Bull 
Run, Dr. Coolidge said: — 

"I was ordered to the battle-field of Bull Run, near Centreville, on the 
night of Saturday, the 30th of August, 1862. I had no means of knowing 
what supplies were on the battle-field ; the Surgeon-Greneral sent out a train 
containing quantities of hospital supplies, and among them large quantities 
of beef tea — some two thousand cans. These arrived at Centreville on Mon- 
day morning, the second of September. At that moment there was not an 
entire ration — a day's ration — for the troops in that army; at least if there 
was, I could not by any possibility hear or learn from the commissaries that 
there was. With great difficulty I got one beef for the wounded in Cen- 
treville and its immediate vicinity. At that time there were — according to 
reports, the best information I could get at the moment — lying upon the 
battle-field, seven miles in front of Centreville, about .500 wounded. That 
number I subsequently ascertained to be nearer 3000 than 500. Those 
men were lying upon that battle-field from the day of the battle — Saturday — 
some of them from the day previous to that last day's battle, until the elev- 
enth day of September, before they were all removed. In that time the most 
valuable food they had was this extract of beef. During the whole time, 
until Thursday, they had nothing to live upon hut the hospital stores sent 
out by the Surgeon-General, and part of two beeves, which /procured through 
the instrumentality of the Medical Director of the rebel army. I say no food 
but what the men had in their haversacks and what rebel troops passing 
through the battle-field distributed to them individually, as a matter of char- 
ity, and it amounted to but little until Thursday. On Thursday morning 
the supply trains came from Washington with food for the wounded ; and in 
those trains almost every train brought fresh bread and this beef extract, so 
that the two thousand cans was not all that was furnished of the beef And 
I will further add that, when the flag of truce was granted, upou information 
that 500 wounded lay upon the field of battle, the detail of surgeons in 
attendance was made for that number of wounded, and consequently the 
number of attendants on the field was so small, compared with the work 
that had to be performed, that if loe had had ordinarg food ive would not 
have been able to cook it in the quantities required by the ivounded; and I 
believe that the hospital supplies, and maitdy the beef extract, saved many 
lives upon that battle-field." 

Medical Inspector Vollum's testimony is to the same effect as 
that of Dr. Coolidge. 

Of the 8th specification I was considered not guilty by the 
court. I gave the order specified, and therefore the finding is 
not correct. The court ought to have found the facts, and have 
stricken out the words, ''m disregard of his duty," etc. 

2d Charge. — The specification to this charge alleges that I 
made a false statement. In order that the public may see upon 
what evidence I was convicted of this charge and specification, I 



65 

subjoin all the evidence -which the prosecution adduced, (page 
676 of the record.) The italics are mine. 

" Henry W. Halleck, a witness called by the Government, being duly 
sworn, testified as follows : — 

"^. (By the Judge Advocate.) State, if you please, your name and rank 
in the service of the United States. 

"A. Henry W. Halleck, Major-General, Acting General-in-Chief. 

"Q. State, if you please, whether you made any communication in writing 
to Surgeon-General Hammond, about October 1st, 1862, in relation to Sur- 
geon Murray. 

"A. I did. 

"Q. State if you have a copy of that communication with you. 

"A. I have. This is a copy of it." 

The witness here produces, and the Judge Advocate offers in 
evidence, without objection, the following paper: — * 

Headquakteks of the Akmy, Washington, D. C, 
October 1st, 1862. 
GENERAL HAMMOND, 

Surgeon- General. 
Dr. Murray has served long and faithfully with the army in the field in the 
West, and he now wishes to be transferred to Eastern hospital duty. 
Please give his case your consideration. 

Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., 

H. W. HALLECK, 

General-m- Chief. 

"Q. State whether you made any other communication upon this subject 
to General Hammond at any other time. 

"A. No, sir, to the best of my recollection I did not. 

"Q. State whether you made any other communication to him orally at 
any time upon the subject — the transfer of Murray. 

"^. Never, sir, to my recollection. 

"Q. Is the full name of Dr. Murray in your note, given in evidence, Robert 
Murray ? 

"u4. Yes, sir. 

"Q. (Cross-examined by the accused.) Did you receive any communica- 
tion from Dr. Robert Murray before you wrote that letter to General Ham- 
mond ? 

"A. I did. 

"Q. Have you that letter here ? 

"A. I have not. 

"Q. In that communication, please to state whether he said anything in 
reference to his being ordered from his then sphere of duty to some other. 

"A. To the best of my recollection, he added to a letter on private busi- 
ness, '/ shoidd like to go East on hospital duty,' or something to that effect. 
I do not think he designated any place other than ^Eastern hospital duty.' 

"§. How long was that before your letter to General Hammond? 

"A. It was at the same time, sir. I wrote the note to General Hammond 
immediately when receiving that letter ; probably the same day and within 
a few hours. 

"§. Be good enough to state whether you know what has become of that 
letter from Dr. Murray. 

"A. I possibly may have it among my private papers." 



66 

The following morning, General Halleck sent to the court a 
copy of portions of the letter referred to. It was as follows: — 

[private.] Louisville, September 27th, 1862, 

My dear Gknrrai, : — 

I must trouble you with a short letter, to urge you to order me to some 
Eastern or Northeastern station. ******* My claims are 
good for an Eastern station. I have been hard at work in the field for over 
a year. I came here when the Department was first organized, as Medical 
Director of the Department of the Ohio. After serving six months here at 
headquarters, and six months in the field, 1 now find myself occupying a 
subordinate position in the same Department; not from any dissatisfaction 
with my performance of the duty, for Dr. Wood, the Assistant 8urgeon-Gea- 
eral, assures me that my services were recognized and appreciated at the 
Surgeon-General's office; and I was considered, when he was there, to have 
done more duty during the last year than any other officer in the corps. 

/ want to be ordered to hospital duty -in Philadelphia, New York, or some 
point north of these places. Philadelphia would suit me best. 

My profession being that of a physician not a soldier, I am anxious to be 
where I can improve myself in medicine and surgery. 

As Medical Director, I learn nothing in my profession proper. But my 
principal reason for desiring this change of station, is on account of my wife. 
* * * * I am intensely anxious to be near her. I cannot ask for leave, 
but I can, without hesitation, ask for hospital duty. * * * * * * 

Jf you will send a Ttiemorandum to the Surg eon- General's office, request- 
ing him to order me to a hospital in Philadelphia, it will be done at once. 
******* 

Very truly yours, 

R. MURRAY. 
MAJOR-GENERAL H. W. HALLECK, U. S. A., 

Washington, D. C. 

This is all the evidence on this charge and specification ; and 
on K the court-martial found me guilty of falsehood in writing to 
Dr. Cooper, on the thirteenth of October, that General Halleck 
had requested me to order Murray to Philadelphia. There is not 
the least positive assertion in General Halleck's testimony that he 
did not have the conversation with me on the subject. He sim- 
ply does not recollect that he did. The fallibility of his memory 
is shown by the fact that he did not recollect that Dr. Murray 
had specified Philadelphia as the place he wished to be sent to; 
and yet in his letter Dr. Murray mentions it three times. The 
truth is that a day or two after General Halleck wrote the note to 
me in regard to Dr. Murray, I had a conversation with him, and 
he distinctly stated that he would like to have Murray ordered to 
Philadelphia. In the lapse of sixteen months he had forgotten 
this fact as he forgot Dr. Murray's wishes as expressed in his let- 
ter. Moreover, how did I know Murray wanted to go to Phila- 
delphia, unless I received the information from General Halleck ? 
and what object could I possibly have had in telling Dr. Cooper 
■what I did, unless I believed it to be true ? If I had said, " Gen- 
eral Halleck wishes Dr. Murray to be ordered East, and you are 
the only one I think it possible to relieve," it would have fully ex- 



6T , 

pressed as much as what I did write. But, notwithstanding all this, 
General Halleck's evidence amounts to nothing in support of the 
charge of falsehood. If he had said, "I recollect distinctly that 
I did not have any conversation with the Surgeon- General," that 
would have been positive evidence. As it is, his testimony is not 
of sufficient weight to determine a case of the slightest importance, 
much less one involving the character of his brother officer. 
Moreover, the alleged falsehood was asserted on the 13th of 
October, 1862. If it was a falsehood, why was I not at once 
arrested and tried for it ? The Secretary of War had my letter 
in his possession a few days after it was written, and yet he allows 
fifteen months to elapse before he brings the accusation of false- 
hood against me! Is it credible, that with his known vindictive- 
ness, and hatred of me, he would have given me one day's grace 
in this or any other matter in which he thought he had me in his 
power ? 

This is all I have to say on this subject. I am content to sub- 
mit the evidence and the attendant circumstances to the judg- 
ment of my fellow-countrymen, who cannot fail to see how malign 
and corrupt were the influences which brought a majority of a 
court-martial, sworn to determine according to the evidence, and 
to well and truly try the case before them, to shamefully disre- 
gard their oaths, and to lend themselves to the foul work of aid- 
ing in the destruction of one whose only crime was that he had 
resisted the oppression and arbitrary conduct of their master — the 
Secretary of War. 

The 8d Charge was not preferred till after the court was 
ordered. The finding on the 1st specification is perfec''\y just 
so far as the facts are concerned. I did order the Medical f tore- 
keeper to purchase the blankets. The court found that my act 
was not a corrupt one, but merely in excess of my authority. It 
was probably thought that a show of justice could be made by such 
a finding; and this was perhaps the reason why I was found not 
guilty of the 2d specification. The motive which induced me to 
order the blankets to be purchased was the fact that Dr. Cooper 
had written to me that he could get none in Philadelphia; and as 
this lot was ofiered at a fair rate and at a lower price than the 
same blankets had been held by another party, I thought it proper 
to direct the Medical Purveyor to receive them. He testified to 
their being good blankets and worth the price. The following is 
the correspondence alluded to, (pages 477 and 307): — 

Mkdical Purvetor's Office, Philadelphia, Pa., 
November 6th, 1862. 
SURGEON-GENERAL, U. S. A., 

Washington, D. C. 
Sir:— 

In the requisition for the hospital at Chestnut Hill, there is a call for seven 
thousand blankets. There are in the market but few white ones of good 

5 



68 

quality, and it will be necessary, 1 think, to procure brown ones. Of theac 
it is difficult to procure a good quality under seven dollars and a half a pair; 
for this price I can procure a good article. I fear I will be compelled to 
purchase, as the blankets which have been ordered from Paton & Co. to be 
imported, come in blowly. Your obedt. servt., 

GEO. E. COOPER, 

Surgeon U. S. A. 

This was answered immediately, and the blankets sent : — 

ScEaKON-GENEEAL's OFFICE, WASHINGTON ClTY, D. C, 

November 9th, 1862. 
Sir :— 

Your communication in regard to the 7000 blankets required for the Chest- 
nut Hill hospital in Philadelphia has been received. In reply, I am instructed 
to inform you that 7000 have been ordered to be sent to you : 4000 from 
Surgeon R. S. Satterlee, N. Y., and 3000 from the Medical Purveyor in this 
city. 
By order of the Surgeon-General. 

Yery respectfully, 

Your obedt. servt., 

C. H. ALDEN, 
Assistant Surgeon U. S. A. 
SURGEON G. E. COOPER, U. S. A., 

Medical Purveyor, Philadelphia. 

There are several points of importance which I could consider 
with advantage but for my anxiety not to extend this statement 
beyond reasonable limits. For a full review of the evidence, and 
for an analysis of the testimony of Surgeon George E. Cooper, 
upon whom the prosecution mainly depended, I must refer to my 
defense, and to the record of the court, which I hope will soon be 
published. After an examination of the many self-contradictions 
of this witness, and the numerous points in which his evidence 
was directly contradicted by others, I do not believe any intelli- 
gent and impartial person would be willing to adjudge my case 
on the basis of what he has said. 

After Dr. Cooper had concluded his evidence in regard to the 
letters of June seventeenth and July thirtieth, which the Judge 
Advocate wished him to swear had never been in his possession, 
but which Dr. Cooper was forced to admit "were familiar" to him, 
he came to me outside of the court-room and expressed the utmost 
contrition for the evidence he had given. He said no one could tell 
how he had been goaded and threatened, and cajoled into testify- 
ing as he had, and that he would "catch it" for not swearing he 
had never received the letters above referred to. His conversa- 
tion was long and evidently sincere, and was heard in part by 
Messrs. Bradley and Harris, my counsel, and by Dr. S. Adams of 
the army. To Mr. Harris he expressed himself in similar terms 
to those he used to me. I can only hope, for his own sake, 
that he has truly repented of the bitter wrong he has done me. 

The leaning of the court toward the prosecution was shown at 



69 

a very early day and throughout the proceedings, both to myself 
and counsel. When I asked that the proceedings should not com- 
mence till the arrival of General Starkweather, one of the mem- 
bers, upon the ground that I was entitled to as full a court as pos- 
sible, my request was refused, in accordance with the wishes of the 
Judge Advocate. The next day, after the Judge Advocate had been 
afforded the opportunity of getting the views of the Secretary of 
War, and had doubtless learned that it was highly desirable that 
General Starkweather should be present, the request which had 
been refused before was granted at his suggestion ! 

Throughout the whole proceedings, day after day, the court 
allowed the Judge Advocate to assail me with abuse, which would 
have disgraced the lowest criminal lawyer of the Old Bailey or 
Tombs. To this remark, however, I except Generals Ketchum, 
Green, and Paine, who, on several occasions, expressed their dis- 
approbation, and whose fair and just minds, attention to the evi- 
dence, and whole demeanor were such as to command both my 
respect and admiration. 

The rulings of the court were many times such as to unjustly 
exclude evidence which I deemed important to my defense, and 
which, by the rules of courts, should have been accepted. 

I was not allowed by the court to reply to the false and mali- 
cious address of the Judge Advocate, though nearly every writer 
on Military Law lays it down as a fixed principle that the accused 
before a court-martial should be allowed to have the last words. 

The record numbers nearly 2500 pages, and yet, after the 
court was cleared for deliberation, only one hour and a half 
elapsed before the findings and sentence had been agreed upon. 
It was absolutely impossible that the evidence could even have 
been hastily glanced over in ten times this period, much less have 
been considered and digested with the care which those conscious of 
the solemnity of their duty would have felt bound to have given it. 

The court-martial was of my own seeking, and^ as has been 
shown, was granted only after my persistent applications. I knew 
that the matter was entirely in the hands of my enemy. He had 
the preferring of the charges, the detailing of the court, and the 
reviewing of the proceedings within his complete control. I knew 
how arbitrary had been his conduct in regard to courts-martial ; 
how a court of which Major-General Hitchcock was president 
was outraged by the publication of a general order censuring the 
members for daring to acquit a person upon whom the evil eye of 
Mr. Stanton had been cast; how the finding in the case of Col. 
Belger had been disapproved, and the accused dishonorably 
dismissed the service when the court had honorably acquitted 
him; and how, in many other instances, courts had been reminded 
that there was a power mightier than that of justice to which 
they were accountable. I knew all these things, but I had so 



70 

thorough and unbounded a confidence in the justice of my cause 
that I did not believe it possible a court would have resulted in 
anything but my triumphant acquittal. The sequel has shown 
that my faith was unwarranted, and that it is possible to convict 
a man not only of crimes he never committed, but of which he 
never even dreamed. 

Another circumstance which shows clearly the existence of a 
conspiracy to ruin me, is the fact that during my trial a number 
of letters were returned to me which had been stolen from my 
oflSce. In January, 1868, Dr. J. K. Smith, who was at the time the 
principal assistant in the bureau, had a large sum of money stolen 
from a locked drawer of his desk; letters were missed, others 
directed to me were never received; and it was very evident that 
my correspondence was tampered with. 

On the 17th of March, 1864, a package of letters was handed 
to my counsel by a gentleman, a friend of mine, to whom they 
had been addressed. The package was opened by my counsel, 
Messrs. Bradley and Harris, in my presence, and, in addition to 
the letters sent, contained the following: — 

"Circumstances have placed the inclosed papers in my control, and I 
know where there are others which bear strongly in General Hammond's 
favor, and which have been secretly taken from his office. I will obtain 
them if possible. He has been and now is conspired against. I cannot re- 
main silent while a great wrong is attempted. I dare not tell you how I got 
these papers, /did not steal them. I know you will do what is right with 
them ; my only object is JUSTICE." 

There were events connected with the return of these letters 
to which I do not more specifically refer now, as I hope to 
be able ere long to connect the several links into a complete 
chain of evidence. I will only say that no doubt exists that these 
letters had in part been stolen from my office and been mixed by 
some one with letters which had been sent by me to Dr. Cooper 
and to the War Department. 

In all, the package contained forty-nine papers. They were of 
such a character as showed that my office had been ransacked 
from top to bottom, and even the private drawers of my desk in- 
vaded. It was doubtless in one of these raids that Dr. Smith's 
money was taken. 

Of these forty-nine papers, one was the original letter from me 
to Dr. Cooper, dated June 17th, 1862, with the indorsement on 
the back in his handwriting, already given, and which had either 
been taken from his ofiice or furnished by him to some one in his 
confidence. I have reason to believe that the letter from Cooper 
to me, dated June 16th, which he swore he did not write, was in 
the possession of the sender, but that he was subsequently de- 
prived of it in some way. 

On the twenty-eighth of March my counsel, Mr. Bradley, re- 



71 

ceived through the post-office my letter to Cooper of July 30th, 
1862, which had evidently once been in his office. 

I have also received information that while my trial was in 
progress another package of letters, which had been stolen from 
my office, was sent by some enemy to Major- General Oglesby, the 
President of the Court. I do not know what he did with them. 
He did not return them to me, as he was bound in honor to do, 
and my counsel has written to him on the subject. I believe these 
letters were obtained, by the agency of the Reeder Commission, 
from my office and from Dr. Cooper's. Those from my office 
were taken surreptitiously. 

I submit these facts to the public without comment. No one 
can fail to perceive how thorough and how persistent was the 
combination against me. 

In his reply to my defense. Judge Advocate Bingham made 
several willfully false assertions and designedly misrepresented 
the record. For instance, he wishes to make it appear that I 
had declared in court that I had never received any letters from 
W. A. Stephens; whereas the record shows that he interrupted 
me in the middle of a sentence, which I was not allowed to finish. 
He asserts that Dr. Laub was relieved from duty as Medical Pur- 
veyor by me because he would not lend himself to my schemes, 
when in fact he was relieved by the positive order of the Secre- 
tary of War. 

Mr. Stanton sent for me one morning, and informed me that 
Dr. Laub was making large purchases in Georgetown, which was 
no place in which to procure drugs. He said there were rumors 
of misconduct on Dr. Laub's part, and he wished him relieved. 
I returned to my office and wrote out Dr. Laub's detail for the 
West. Several days elapsed, and one morning when I was at the 
War Department I asked Mr. Watson, the Assistant Secretary of 
War, what had become of Dr. Laub's detail. He did not know, 
but was under the impression the orders had been made out. A 
few days afterward I received the following: — 

War Department, Washington City, 
NoTember 8th, 1862. 
Genkral : — 

I am unable to find the letter you mentioned to me a few days since, in 
relation to the relief of Dr. Laub as purchasing agent for the Medical 
Department. 

Please send a duplicate of your letter, as it is clear that Dr. Laub is an 
improper person to be intrusted with such a duty, and ought to be relieved 
without delay. Very respectfully. 

Your obedt. servt., « 

P. H. WATSON, 
BRIG.-GEN. WM. HAMMOND, Assistant Secretary of War. 

Surgeon- General. 

There are so many other deliberate perversions of fact in the 
reply of Judge Advocate Bingham, that it would require more 
space than I think it necessary to employ to expose them. 



72 

Since the adjournment of the court, my counsel addressed a 
letter to the President, asking whether or not he would consider 
a review of Mr. Bingham's address, should such a paper be pre- 
pared. The court had refused this privilege, but it was hoped 
the President would see the justice of granting it. No answer, 
however, was returned. 

Subsequently Mrs. Hammond requested an interview, simply 
in order that she might ask him to listen to evidence which had 
not been brought before the court. He sent out her card, with 
the indorsement: — 

"Under the circumstances, I should prefer not seeing Mrs. Hammond. 

A. LINCOLN." 

The same day I wrote him the following letter : — 

Washington, D. C, August 2d, 1863. 
Sir :— 

I have the honor to recjuest that you will grant me a short interview, at 
such time as may suit your convenience. 

I do not Ivnow what has been the decision of the court-martial in my case, 
but, conscious of innocence, I cannot believe it to have been adverse. If, 
however, I am mistaken, and you approve the proceedings, a great injustice 
will be done me. 

I do not believe you will allow a wrong to be committed when in your 
power to prevent it, and I may be able, by a few words, to save myself from 
undeserved injury, and give you the consciousness of having overlooked no 
means of ascertaining the truth. 

I am, very respectfully. 

Your Excellency's obedt. servt., 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND, 

Swgeon-General U. S. A, 
His EXCELLENCY the PRESIDENT. 

No notice was taken of this letter; and on the eighteenth of 
August the proceedings, findings, and sentence of the court-mar- 
tial were approved, without, as I have every reason to believe, the 
President having read a single page of the record. 

The review, submitted to him by Judge Advocate General Holt 
is entirely ex parte. So far is this the case, that the specifica- 
tions and portions of specifications which the court decided were 
not established, are not referred to by this ofiicer. Not one single 
jot or tittle of the evidence for the defense is mentioned; and he 
indulges in abuse and misrepresentation which, though perhaps 
pardonable in an individual like Bingham, specially selected for a 
particular kind of work, are inexcusable in the chief military law i 
officer of the Government. It must also be recollected that the 
charges were drj},wn up and signed by him, and yet he is permitted 
to review the proceedings. He also shows his ignorance of the 
law in several instances, but in none more so than in asserting 
that I took the duty of purchasing from the bonded officers of the 
Government, Avhen in fact the law requiring Medical Purveyors 
to give bonds in such sums as the Secretary of War shall direct 



& RD-94 



73 

was not passed till July 17th, 1862, after most of the transactions 
referred to in the charges; and Dr. Cooper did not give bonda 
till the following October, nor Dr. Cox till the summer of the 
subsequent year. It might be supposed, from Mr. Judge Advo- 
cate General Holt's remarks, that I was furnished with counsel 
by the Government. Such was not the case. I supplied myself 
■with counsel, and am indebted to friends, not involved in the 
charges and specifications preferred against me, for the loan of 
the money — six thousand dollars — with which to pay them. 

And thus the end which Mr. Stanton has had in view for the 
past two years has been accomplished — so far as it was possible 
for him to bring it about. He has not only deprived me of my 
commission, but has left no means,untried to take from me the 
name for truth and honor which has heretofore been accorded to 
me by those who knew me best. In this he has signally failed. 
It may be, and. doubtless is the case, that many of those to whom 
I am personally unknown will be brought to believe in the truth 
of the accusations against me. I do not blame them. It is diffi- 
cult for one man to contend successfully against such tremendous 
odds as have been and are in operation against me. I have never, 
however, despaired of the eventual triumph of my cause. I know 
it rests upon the sure foundations of truth and justice ; and I shall 
continue to pursue my path through life with the knowledge that 
it is crime, not punishment, which brings disgrace. Think- 
ing thus, the intelligence that Mr. Stanton has instituted a civil 
suit against me has given me great satisfaction, although the 
motives which prompted this action on his part were such as gen- 
erally influence him whenever he has to deal with any one he has 
injured. Should he bring this suit to trial, and I stand upon the 
same ground with him before a jury of my countrymen, I shall 
have no fears as to the result. The facts, however, that he has 
brought no suit against either Messrs. Wyeth or Stephens, but 
only against me, and that his proceedings were not instituted till 
after the publication of my card, show that his only object was to 
forestall public opinion. The opportunity which such a suit 
would afibrd for getting the decisions of competent courts upon 
the legality of my acts is one which I very much fear it is not his 
intention to give me if he can by any possibility avoid it. 

The time will come when such wickedness as I have endeavored 
to expose in this statement will meet with its due reward. Till 
that hour arrives, I shall not bear myself any the less proudly, 
by reason of the temporary triumph of my enemies; but, con- 
scious of right, will patiently wait for the full vindication which 
is sure to come. 

WILLIAM A. HAMMOND. 

No. 162 West 34Tri Street, 

New York, Sept., 1864. 






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